You've Got Mail
by NixieStar
Summary: Duo takes it upon himself to get Heero to lighten up a little and not be so...perfect soldierish. So he plays a practical joke, a rather extreme one. Chapter 23 uploaded! Lita makes a confession or two and Heero comes to grips with being a father.
1. Delivery For Heero Yuy

I own none of the following characters until otherwise noted in the disclaimer. I do however claim the plot, as I do consider it fairly original….at least in my opinion.  
  
I came up with this idea last night, and I thought it would be interesting to see how it played out. Gomen for this chapter being short, but it is a teaser to see if you like the idea. If you do, let me know and I'll be glad to continue!  
  
"Heero…oh Heero….we have a mission waiting for us…" Duo walked through the kitchen of Quatre's mansion.  
  
"Mission accepted," came the bland reply, as Heero walked by.  
  
"But you don't even know what it is yet!"  
  
"It's a mission. I accept all missions. Therefore, I will accept the mission regardless."  
  
"Geez. I didn't realize how far your life had gone down the tubes. But, hopefully this mission will remedy that." Duo grinned.  
  
"Why do I not like where this is going?"  
  
"Too bad, you already accepted." Duo grabbed Heero's arm and dragged him out to one of Quatre's many cars. "Now get in and that's an order."  
  
Grumbling just loudly enough for Duo to hear, Heero climbed into the passenger's seat  
  
Duo hopped in the driver's seat and took off.  
  
"Now…exactly what is this mission?"  
  
Duo grinned. "Top secret. All I can tell you is we're, well…you actually, supposed to meet a girl at the station. She's coming in around noon."  
  
"A girl? What does a girl have to do with us?" Heero then launched into a tirade about how girls should not be gundam pilots.  
  
"Woah! Time out buddy. You sound too much like Wufei."  
  
"Speaking of which, he won't be too happy about a girl in the house. You know what problems that will cause."  
  
"I have a feeling she'll be able to take care of herself."  
  
Heero raised his eyebrow, looking at his friend curiously. He was beginning to get just the tiniest bit anxious about this mission.  
  
Finally reaching the station, Heero and Duo climbed out of the car and went inside the building to wait…and wait some more. Heero was bored without his laptop and eventually got tired of yanking Duo away from the bright colored display of travel brochures. However, soon the gods took pity on the poor young man and the clock struck noon.  
  
Dragging Heero out to the train platform, Duo kept his eyes peeled for anybody that might resemble the girl they were looking for. After a few minutes, he spied a rather tall young lady looking around. Once again dragging poor Heero behind, while ignoring his protests, Duo made his way over to the girl.  
  
"Looks like you lost something. Can I be of help?" he asked politely.  
  
The girl ran her slender fingers through her chocolate colored hair. "Actually, I could use some help, but not because I lost something. I'm looking for somebody."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
She nodded. "You wouldn't happen to know a Heero Yuy would you?"  
  
"I'm Heero Yuy," came the flat voice.  
  
With a smile that reached up into her green eyes, she held out her hand. "My name's Lita Kino. I'm your mail order bride." 


	2. Meet the Guys, Not Beat the Guys!

Well, chapter 2 has started and I have yet to own any of the following characters. If I did, I wouldn't have to worry about paying for college!  
  
Thanks go out to all of you who have reviewed. I never realized how much a review could mean to someone until I got some myself. ^_^  
  
And now for some author's notes!  
  
Some characters may appear extremely out of character, or OOC. There is a reason for this!  
  
The other sailors will make an appearance in the story, some sooner then later. Be looking for two in particular to be part of a later plot.  
  
In some upcoming/future chapters there is likely to be mild Relena bashing, as I don't like her character. I apologize to all Relena fans in advance, as her character will likely be tampered with severely for my purposes. However, at this point, I'm not planning on her dying, at least not intentionally. (It could happen in a mobile suit attack or something though…. *_*;)  
  
Now then, on with the story!  
  
"Did…did you say bride?" Heero asked, more then a little shocked.  
  
Lita nodded. "That's what I said. You were expecting me weren't you?"  
  
"Not exactly," he frowned.  
  
"What do you mean not exactly? You are Heero Yuy aren't you?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
There was a pause as the young lady rummaged in her handbag and produced a couple sheets of paper. "And this is your signature on this letter isn't it?" she asked, handing it to him.  
  
"Yes. But I swear I've never seen this letter before in my life," he replied as he skimmed the contents.  
  
"What do you mean you've never seen it? You signed it!" Lita yanked the paper back and stuffed it back into her purse.  
  
"That's my signature, but I don't remember writing that thing or singing it either…." He turned to look at Duo, who as backing away slowly. "Duo…what do you know about all this?"  
  
"Um…would you believe nothing…?"  
  
"Not exactly," Heero said, storming up to Duo and grabbing hold of his braid. "You either tell me now what this is all about, or I let Wufei chop off that braid next time you get into his green tea ice cream."  
  
Poor Duo was left with no choice but to tell the truth. "Well…um…see this is all a big mistake…"  
  
"Mistake?" asked Lita.  
  
"Yeah, see…my buddy Heero here has a social problem so I thought if I got him a girl he'd lighten up a little. So I sorta found your profile and wrote a letter 'from Heero' and slipped it into a stack of mission reports he was signing and he never noticed and signed and then I sneaked it back and mailed it to you…"  
  
"YOU DID WHAT?" Heero was furious. "I do not have a social problem! And what's the big idea about tricking me into signing up for a wife anyway? Not to mention the missions…."  
  
"It was for your own good Heero, honest."  
  
"I knew there was a reason I wanted to retract this acceptance…" he mumbled to himself.  
  
Lita waved. "Um, hate to interrupt you two, but what happens now?"  
  
Heero glared at her. "You go home. What else?"  
  
"Sorry, no can do buster."  
  
"Oh, I see. Parents throw you out for getting married at such an early age?"  
  
"Nani?"  
  
"You heard me," he said stiffly.  
  
She then proceeded to hit him with her handbag. "For your information Mr. Friendly, I wasn't kicked out. Dead people can't kick you out of anything. And I'm old enough."  
  
Heero looked her over briefly, rubbing his cheek where she'd hit him. "You look to be about 18. Probably not even out of high school." He snorted. "How ridiculous."  
  
"Shows how much you know! I'm 16," she grinned triumphantly.  
  
Heero facevaulted, as odd as it may seem. However, this information was just too much for him. "16!?!? You're still a minor!"  
  
Duo blinked. "I swear Heero, I didn't know. The profile said she was 18."  
  
"I lied." She shrugged her shoulders. "It's the minimum age to use the service."  
  
Heero rolled his eyes. "Oh this is just great. Duo, because of your idiocy, we're stuck with a baby here."  
  
"I am not a baby!" Lita was starting to get just slightly annoyed at this point.  
  
"You are!"  
  
"Listen here buster…just because I'm 'only' 16, it doesn't mean I'm any less mature then you are. Don't judge me until you know me, and I mean really know me."  
  
Duo was getting nervous. He hadn't expected Heero to react favorably, but this was starting to get out of hand. He grabbed Heero's arm and drug him aside. "Cool it buddy. We don't need you calling attention to us here."  
  
Heero scowled. "Then tell her to go away!"  
  
"I can't do that. Come on Heero…she's only a couple years younger then us. Besides, she's an orphan like we are. Doesn't that mean anything to you?"  
  
"No. She isn't like us Duo."  
  
"Well too bad for you. I dragged her into this mess and I think it's only right I make it up to her. I'm sure Quatre can find a place for her in his house. In fact, I know he can."  
  
"Oh, you wouldn't…."  
  
"Watch me." Letting go of Heero's arm, he went back over to Lita.  
  
"Look Lita, I'm really sorry about this. But don't worry because I know somebody who can help."  
  
"Oh boy…" she rolled her eyes. "I hope he's better at helping then you are."  
  
Duo sweatdropped. "Yeah, well…anyway. My buddy Quatre own this mansion that 5 of us guys live in and he just fired the cook. Well, he didn't want to but he was blackmailed by Wufei because Wu-man didn't like the way the cook fixed the rice. Well, I remember that cooking was one of the hobbies listed on your profile. I'm sure Quatre would hire you."  
  
"Well, I guess that would be ok. I mean, I do like to cook. As long as I'm not in the way…" She looked pointedly at Heero.  
  
"Whatever," was the only response.  
  
"Fine, then it's settled." Duo grinned and made arrangements to have her things packed into the car they had come in. After everything was loaded, he came back to get the other two; only to discover that Heero now had a black eye.  
  
"Heero! What happened to you?"  
  
"She happened to me," and he pointed an accusing finger at Lita.  
  
"I wouldn't have done that if you'd kept your comments to yourself."  
  
"Just what did you do?" Duo asked.  
  
"Mr. Friendly here called me an liability and a civilian that had no place here…so I punched him," she answered very matter of factly.  
  
Duo groaned to himself. At least she can handle him…. Sighing inwardly, he herded the miscreants to the car, praying he would live through the drive back to Quatre's.  
  
~~And time passes~~  
  
As Duo pulled into the drive of Quatre's mansion, Lita just sat and stared. "You said mansion…but geez. You shoulda said palace!"  
  
"It's nothing to get excited over," Heero said flatly.  
  
"Well excuse me. It just so happens everything looks big to a person who's lived in an apartment all her life."  
  
"Quit fighting you two!"  
  
"Sorry Duo." Lita smiled apologetically. Even though he had caused the situation in the first place, she realized he was only doing it to help a friend so he had been forgiven.  
  
Upon parking, she helped him unload her things from the car and take them inside where they were met by 3 other men.  
  
A blonde haired, blue eyed young man smiled. "Duo why didn't you tell me you were bringing home company?"  
  
"Um, she's not exactly company. I thought she could fill in for the cook. You know, since you fired the last one…."  
  
"I do housework too, if you need any help with that," she piped up.  
  
"Well, if Duo recommends you then of course the job is yours. My name is Quatre Winner. " He motioned to the taller, brown haired boy with funny bangs. "This is my friend Trowa Barton and the Chinese man next to him is Chang Wufei. I see you already met Heero and Duo."  
  
"Thank you Mr. Winner. It's a pleasure to meet all of you. My name's Lita Kino by the way."  
  
Any responses were cut off by an inquiry from the Chinese boy. "Yuy, what happened to you?"  
  
"It's black eye Wufei. What does it look like?"  
  
"Yes, I can see that is a black eye," he said.  
  
"I gave it to him."  
  
"An onna gave Yuy a black eye?" Wufei laughed. "That's quite amusing."  
  
"What's so funny about it?"  
  
"Women are weak."  
  
"I beg to differ." Lita stomped over to Wufei and grabbed h is shirt collar. "Maybe some 'onnas' as you call them, are weak…" She reached around and pulled out the elastic in his hair and threw it on the floor. Then, her free hand began to glow a faint green and the air begin to feel alive with electricity. So much of this static electricity was forming around Wufei, that not only was his hair now standing on end, but Trowa's bangs were standing straight up as well. "But I'm not your average onna." With that, she released his collar and stepped back, noticing that all eyes were on her. "Was it something I did?" 


	3. All Work and No Play Makes A Sick Studen...

Yet another chapter comes, and I still don't own any of these characters. Maybe someday I can afford to buy them, but at the moment I'm not in that kind of financial position. I can dream though….  
  
Gomen minna, but being employed does cause problems. Due to my schedule this weekend, it might be a few days before I can update again. But I will do my best to get the next chapter out as soon as possible.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
Heero was the first to recover from this…unusual display. He quickly grabbed Lita's wrist, glaring daggers at her. "Ok, now I'll ask you this just once. Who are you really?"  
  
"I told you! I'm Lita Kino."  
  
"I think you're keeping something from us. Nobody I know can glow like that. What are you, some freak OZ developmental weapon? You're a spy aren't you!" he accused, gripping her wrist tighter.  
  
"OZ? What the hell is that? I don't know what you're talking about! I'm not a weapon! I'm a sai…." Lita stopped as she realized she'd been about to spill her secret.  
  
"I knew it! You are hiding something!"  
  
"So what if I am? You haven't been exactly honest with me either. You sound like some kind of secret agents or some weird government agency…talking about missions and weapons…. You plan on telling me what you're hiding?"  
  
Heero growled and dropped her wrist, knowing there was no way he could answer that question.  
  
"I thought so. Look, I know it may not look like it, but I'm totally human and I don't plan on doing anything to any of you. You have my word as a…well, you just have it. So I won't pry into your life if you stay outa mine. Deal?" She stuck her hand out.  
  
"Deal," Heero said gruffly as he shook it.  
  
That had been two days ago. In the time that had elapsed, Lita got acclimated to her new home. She had insisted on occupying the small room off the kitchen, claiming that the larger rooms made her a little unnerved as they were so much bigger then she was used to. She quickly fell into her routine of cooking and cleaning, staying clear of the occupied bedrooms.  
  
She also got used to being "alone" so to speak. Everytime Wufei saw her coming, he headed in another direction to avoid her and her electric personality. Trowa didn't really care one way or the other, but he was so quiet that when he was in the same room with her she just as well might have been alone. Quatre and Duo did talk to her when they could, but they were often off with the other 3 doing who knows what. As for Heero, well…he didn't avoid her per-say, but he didn't go out of his way to talk to her either. Maybe a good way to put it was he didn't really want her being there, but he at least tolerated her presence.  
  
The night of her second day, the 5 had once again shut themselves into the library. Lita drummed her fingers on the arm of the chair she was sitting in. Wondering what she could do to occupy herself, she remembered that Duo mentioned he had a stash of video games in the living room. So that's where she headed, rummaging around in the stacks until she found a Sailor Moon video game-Silver Millenium Tournament 2000. She had to laugh as she started up the game. It just seemed like the type of game Duo would have. "That must be why it was at the bottom of the pile. If Wufei knew about this he'd probably burn it." She laughed some more as she selected her fighter, Sailor Jupiter of course, and began the tournament. So engrossed was she, that she never noticed Duo come into the room. "Damn! Queen Beryl wasn't this hard in real life…and what's with the green hair on Ami anyway….I mean, really…that doesn't even look like the Moon Kingdom!"  
  
At this point, a very puzzled Duo coughed.  
  
Lita whipped around and saw him standing there. "How long have you been there?"  
  
"I just got here," he said smoothly. "Guess you're an avid game player. Really get into it huh?" he grinned.  
  
Lita grinned back, relieved that he appeared not to have heard. "Yeah. I've played most of the Sailor Moon games, but I've never played this one before. It's really hard." She shook her head.  
  
"Yeah…I haven't played it for a couple months. Well, maybe it would be more appropriate to say ever since Heero kicked my ass at it."  
  
"Heero…?"  
  
Duo laughed. "Yeah, if you can believe it. I talked him into it only because it was fighting game. Funny thing…he was playing the same character you were," he said, motioning to the screen where the ignored game character was now lying "dead". "Oh well…say, I think I was supposed to be doing something." He scratched his head. "Oh yeah! I remember now. You're wanted in the library."  
  
Lita looked at him. "The library? Are you sure?"  
  
He nodded. "We were having a meeting concerning you, so we thought it only right you be included."  
  
"Alright…." Lita shut the game down and stood, following Duo up to the library. Her apprehensions where not eased any when Duo shut the door behind her, so she went and sat in one of the empty chairs at the map table, as she called it. It was big enough to hold a large map after all.  
  
Once Duo was seated, Quatre started the second phase of the meeting. "Lita, the reason we've asked you up here is to give you a choice. Tomorrow is Monday, and therefore we all be going to the Peacecraft Academy, where we attend school when we are here. Now, since you obviously had to leave school to come here, we decided you should choose whether you'd like to continue your studies here or not."  
  
"But…but I'm just an employee…"  
  
Quatre shook his head. "That doesn't matter. Education knows no boundaries and if you want to continue your schooling here I see no reason why you shouldn't."  
  
"Well, I'm not a very good student I'm afraid, but…but I'd like to try."  
  
He smiled. "Then that's settled. We'll get you enrolled Monday morning."  
  
"How?" said Wufei. "You realize if we give them her real age that she'll be put in another class…which doesn't bother me much…but if we aren't there she may lose control of her temper. That damn onna will get us in trouble if she starts glowing again."  
  
"Not to mention she'd be with a lot of people she doesn't even know," Duo said.  
  
"Then we'll just have to lie about her age," Heero said. "She looks old enough to pass as 18, so that won't be a problem, and we can fake a record for her to take in."  
  
"You can do that?" Lita asked.  
  
Duo grinned. "Darn right we can. Only one of our wide variety of talents, but it kinda comes with the territory."  
  
"Oh, I see…part of your secret."  
  
He nodded. Just like that game has something to do with yours, I'm sure he thought to himself.  
  
"I think we are all forgetting something here."  
  
"What do you mean Wufei?" Quatre asked.  
  
"That lousy pacifist annoyance, Relena."  
  
Heero scowled. "If we can keep her from finding out anything we'll be alright. Otherwise, Lita's gonna become a target."  
  
"Target? What!?!" she all but screamed.  
  
"Aww, Heero I didn't know you cared!" Duo smirked and elbowed Heero, who promptly silenced him with a glare. "Anyway," he coughed, "Relena is Heero's personal stalker."  
  
"Stalker?"  
  
"Yeah. She's got it bad for 'Mr. Friendly' here and makes no effort to hide her affections. But Heero can't stand her and has told her quite frequently to buzz off…to no avail. If she finds out that you're living here with us, she'll give you hell about living under the same roof with her Heero."  
  
"Well goody for her. If she wants to get bitchy about it, let her. If I can give Heero a black eye, I can certainly beat her good."  
  
"You can't do that!"  
  
"Why not Quatre?"  
  
"Well, you will get expelled for beating up the school's owner."  
  
"Oh…damn." Lita slumped over onto the table. "Well, I'll think of something. If I have to that is."  
  
"Yeah. Let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here," Duo said. "But I think we better get this taken care of now."  
  
She smiled. "I understand…Top Secret. I'll see you in the morning then." She waved a goodnight to everyone and headed back down to her room.  
  
True to their word, when the guys came down to breakfast the next morning they brought all the paperwork with them. So there was no problem getting her enrolled and getting the uniform that was required.  
  
The school day passed smoothly enough. Relena introduced her to the rest of her new classmates. Lita wound up sitting in the empty chair next to Duo, which was good because she was near her acquaintances. It did, however, make it harder to pretend she didn't know them. But nobody seemed to suspect anything and the day went off without a hitch. Well, all except the annoying display of affection Relena insisted on giving to Heero as they left that day…but then again that wasn't that unusual.  
  
Once Relena finally decided to leave poor Heero alone, Lita slipped out from behind a tree and hurried after the others. See, they had decided to have her come later then them and leave later too in an effort to keep things under wraps.  
  
But while the day had gone well, the night would be a different story. Doing her duties first, Lita didn't start her homework until after dinner. The first assignment on the list was calculus, followed by physics, and then an essay whose subject was 'What Pacifism Means to Me' so it could be used in class discussion the following day. "I am so in trouble," she groaned. "I haven't even had this stuff yet!" Sighing, she decided to skip to the essay, and 40 minutes later had a 5-paragraph essay written. "Now then…about this…"she looked at the offensive books sitting on the kitchen table.  
  
A period of about 15 minutes or so elapsed, and Lita found herself knocking on the door of Heero's bedroom, or what she guessed was his since there was a light coming out from under the door and all the other bedrooms were currently empty.  
  
"Come in," came the muffled reply.  
  
Lita cautiously opened the door and poked her head in.  
  
Heero turned to see who it was. "You!" he said, pointing at her. "What do you want?"  
  
"I need to ask you something."  
  
"Whatever it is the answer's no. I'm busy." He turned back to the laptop on his desk.  
  
"I need your help and if you say you're busy again I'll give you another black eye."  
  
He turned back around, after shutting off his laptop. "Alright, alright. What do you need help with?"  
  
"This," she said, coming in and depositing her texts and notebooks on his desk.  
  
He looked at them. "Go find somebody else to help you. I'm not going to play tutor."  
  
"Believe me, I didn't want your help." She glared at him. "But I don't have much choice. Duo's playing video games and he didn't understand it so he just had some computer program work them out. Quatre doesn't understand it either, and anyway Trowa is trying to help him with the assignment so that knocks him out. Wufei just hates me and he thinks homework is weak and unjust because it takes time away from his daily katana exercises. That only leaves you."  
  
He sighed. "Oh alright." Opening the book to the assigned problems, he asked her what the problem was.  
  
"Everything! I haven't had either of these classes yet," Lita answered, looking a little embarrassed.  
  
"Well, no. I guess you wouldn't would you…. This is going to take a lot of work to get you caught up…you do realize that don't you?"  
  
"I kinda guessed…but I promise to try."  
  
"You better…otherwise I'm going to kill you for wasting my time."  
  
"Yes…yes sir."  
  
He made no reply, grabbing the books and heading into the den down the hall, Lita following behind. Heero set everything up, then instructed her to take a seat and proceeded the lesson. After several hours, they finally made it through the calculus homework. "We can take a break I guess."  
  
"Good, cause my brain needs a chance to rest." She say back in her chair, then suddenly, she smiled. "You know, you're really good at this. Well, I mean…you obviously know what you're doing and you explained it pretty well too."  
  
Heero blinked, mildly surprised. In the two and half days he'd known her, she had never complimented him, much less smiled at him. The fact that she did both, well…he wondered what it meant.  
  
"You're probably as smart as Ami," she said, a slight touch of admiration in her voice.  
  
"Who's she?"  
  
"Oh, one of my friends back home…a real genius."  
  
"You mean home as in where you came from…?"  
  
She laughed. "Yeah. This is home now. I guess I just lived in Juuban so long I still think of it as home."  
  
He nodded. "We better get back to work."  
  
"Yeah, guess you're right…" Sighing, she turned her attention to physics as Heero began the explanations for this new subject. Finally, after another several hours passed, they were finished. Looking at her watch, she realized there was only an hour left until time for everyone to be getting up. "Oh my god! Everybody else has been asleep for hours…I'm so sorry Heero. I didn't mean to monopolize your time like that!" Hastily grabbing her assignments and books, she dashed out of the room and headed downstairs to start breakfast.  
  
She was gone so fast, Heero was left standing in the den dumbfounded. She was definitely acting a lot differently then she had two days ago. Shaking his head he went to his room for an hour of sleep.  
  
When everybody came filing down for breakfast, Duo noticed that Lita didn't look so hot. There were dark shadows under her eyes and she was yawning like she hadn't slept all night. He nudged Heero after she went back into the kitchen for the orange juice. "Say…Lita looks awful."  
  
"How observant."  
  
Duo rolled his eyes. "Well, you're nice."  
  
When she came back, Duo asked her how she was feeling.  
  
"Oh, I'm ok…" she yawned. "I was up late last night studying…well, ok I was up all night studying. If you'll excuse me, I'll get ready for school now," and she headed back to the kitchen.  
  
Duo watched her leave. "Studying?"  
  
"Yes Duo, studying. I should know. I stayed up all night helping her."  
  
"You…helped…her?"  
  
"Well, there wasn't anyone else and she's way behind us you know…about 2 years behind us. If she's going to make this ruse work she has to understand the material."  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right…but I can't help thinking this is going to take a lot of work."  
  
How right he was. It soon became the nightly routine for Lita to go up to Heero's room for an all night study session. When she wasn't studying with him, she was working for Quatre. Even that didn't keep her from studying. She memorized formulas while she dusted, studied charts and graphs in the kitchen while eating, and recited information back to herself while cooking.  
  
As the days wore on, the lack of sleep began to catch up with her. Lita looked and felt horrible, but she kept up her rigorous schedule, determined that she was going to succeed and be good student like Ami had always told her she could be, if she applied herself. Where she'd had no real motivation before, she did now. She just wasn't sure what it was. But one can not live on motivation alone, and after about 3 studious weeks, the exhausted girl could take no more.  
  
Heero, who had actually gotten accustomed to tutoring Lita every night, was a bit surprised when she didn't come up that night. Wondering why he even cared that she didn't show, he shrugged off her disappearance as just being late…until he heard the loud crash echo down the hall. Hopping out of his chair, he appeared at the top of the stairs and looked down. There on the floor at the foot of the stairs, was Lita lying amidst a scattered pile of papers, notebooks, and texts. He dashed down, just as Duo appeared.  
  
"Heero…?"  
  
Heero, having given her a brief examination, looked back at Duo. "Go get Quatre and tell him to bring some ice," he said as he picked her up off the floor and laid her down on one of the living room couches. "She's unconscious." 


	4. Dirty Laundry, or Secrets Revealed

You know, I'm really getting tired of realizing I don't own any of the following characters…but it could be worse I suppose…like waking up one morning and realizing that none of the characters exist at all!  
  
Gomen minna! This chapter will have a lot of um…explanations…between parties so it may not be very exciting, but I'll try! Boy, this story just keeps growing…it looks like another chapter before Relena's character turns sour. I promise to make the next chapter more entertaining, but this chapter does help the plot by kind of acquainting characters in the sense that they begin to understand why the other is the way they are. I also promise, that sometime within the next few chapters hopefully, Heero will get his revenge via the plot. (Just a few warnings as such)  
  
On a side note, the timeline for SM is after Galaxia the fight with Chaos. Elements of both the anime and the manga will more then likely be mixed together. Also, she will be referred to as an eternal scout because her outfit toward the end of the manga is styled identically to Eternal Sailor Moon's…not because Lita is all-powerful.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
Lita woke up an hour or so later feeling quite groggy. "Oh, my head…" she groaned. "What happened?"  
  
"You fell down the stairs," Wufei said, acting like she should have remembered.  
  
"That's right…I was going upstairs…and I just blacked out…" Rubbing her head, she made a face.  
  
"How do you feel?" Quatre asked.  
  
"Tired…and my head hurts."  
  
"Well duh," Wufei said, rolling his eyes. "You hit your head on the floor when you fell."  
  
"Thank you for telling me." Lita said, quite sarcastically.  
  
"Anyway," Quatre interrupted, "You will be staying in bed for a while."  
  
"WHAT? I can't stay in bed. I have work to do and I'll fall behind at school!"  
  
"We can bring you your work," Duo offered. "Besides, Quatre's right. You've been working too hard lately. Between studying and working, it was just too much. You need to recover before you do anything."  
  
"Well…I guess I don't have much choice…." She yawned, and shook her head. "I'm sorry…I'm just so tired…."  
  
"That's ok," Quatre said. "You should go ahead and get some rest now."  
  
Lita nodded, smothering another yawn before she closed her eyes and slipped back into sleep.  
  
Heero picked her up off the couch. "I'll take her back to her room." Then he disappeared toward the kitchen.  
  
"What's up with 'Mr. Friendly' all of a sudden?"  
  
"It's that onna. She's doing something to him, magic voodoo or the like."  
  
"Duo, Wufei! We have other more important matters to discuss here. Like how we're going to take care of Lita," Quatre said.  
  
"Somebody's going to have to stay here," Trowa pointed out.  
  
"I agree with Barton. Somebody needs to stay behind and keep that onna in line so she doesn't do anything stupid," Wufei said.  
  
"I'll do it," a voice said.  
  
"Heero's…volunteering?" Duo looked at the returning figure quite astonished.  
  
"Yes Duo, I am. It's partly my fault she's in this mess to begin with. We're all used to nights with little to no sleep so we take it for granted. I should have realized she wouldn't have been able to handle the load." He sat down on the couch.  
  
"Is that the only reason…?" Duo promptly received the infamous Yuy Death Glare (patent pending). "Um, anyway…I don't think that's such a good idea Heero. I mean, what about Relena? How do we explain your absence to her?"  
  
"Just tell her I've been temporarily reassigned. If she thinks I'm on a mission she won't come looking for me."  
  
"Well, that's true…but are you sure about this Heero?"  
  
"I wouldn't have said if I didn't mean it. As long as you pretend I'm on a mission everything will be fine. End of discussion."  
  
Everyone sweatdropped, even Wufei, realizing they'd been given an order of sorts. So they all said goodnight and went their separate ways…that is everyone except Duo and Heero. Mainly because as Heero was heading upstairs, Duo grabbed his arm and made him stay behind.  
  
"Duo…what do you want?"  
  
"Just something I think you should know."  
  
Heero rolled his eyes. "Trying to help again?"  
  
"Just hear me out. There's something funny about that girl Heero. I know you told her you wouldn't pry, but I think you should try and find something out while you're here."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"A few weeks ago, when we had that meeting about her going to school, I came down to get her and she was playing that Sailor Moon video game I have. She must not have realized I was there, because she was saying things about it, like she had first hand knowledge or something, like it was based of real life. I think that game has something to do with whatever her secret is."  
  
"Ok…well, I'll keep that in mind." Inwardly, Heero was wondering if Duo had been into the sugar again. Sometimes his imagination went wild after a lot of sugar and this story seemed a bit outlandish. Then again, Heero had to remind himself, most of Relena's were pretty outlandish too. Shaking his head, he resolved to put the matter out of his mind for the time being.  
  
The next morning, when Lita woke up, it was well past time for anybody to be in the house; and yet there were noises coming from the kitchen. Frowning, she hopped out of bed, cracked open her door and peeked into the kitchen.  
  
"You're finally awake."  
  
Startled, she almost slammed the door onto her fingers. Lita opened the door all the way and went into the kitchen, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "Yeah, I'm awake. But what are you doing here?"  
  
"We decided somebody should stay behind to keep you out of trouble."  
  
"I think somebody should have stayed behind to keep you out of trouble," she said, looking around at the mess in the kitchen.  
  
"Well we do have to eat you know. Quatre doesn't want you working again until you've completely recovered so I thought I'd try fixing lunch. Except I had trouble finding things and so…I kind of improvised."  
  
"So I see…. I appreciate the thought, but I'm not really hungry right now anyway."  
  
"Suit yourself. But that means you have to take it easy."  
  
"Yeah, yeah…." Waving him off, she went back into her room and came out a couple minutes with some clothes. Then she headed to one of the bathrooms downstairs, one that Quatre had sort of designated as hers. After getting cleaned up, she headed back to her room and dumped her dirty clothes into a laundry basket, which she took to the laundry room.  
  
"What do you think you're doing?"  
  
Lita almost dropped the washer lid on her fingers. "Will you cut that out? I hate it when people sneak up on me like that."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"And before you say anything about working, it's just laundry and I promise not to do anything else…but I do have to have some clothes…kind of important." She started putting things in the washer, when she realized she had forgotten something. "Say Heero, could you do me a favor?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"I left my uniform on the chair in my room. Could you go get it and bring it out here please?"  
  
"Hn," he replied, then disappeared from the laundry room.  
  
"I guess that means yes," Lita said.  
  
A few minutes later he came back, holding the uniform out. "Here."  
  
"Thanks," she said, turning around to take it. It was then that she noticed he was holding a picture frame. "What's that?"  
  
"I was going to ask you the same thing." He turned the frame around so the picture was visible, displaying a group picture of the senshi. "I found it on your desk…."  
  
"Damn it, I forgot all about that," Lita swore.  
  
"A whole group of you who look like characters from that video game…either you guys are all so crazy you dressed up like the characters or there's a little something you're hiding…."  
  
"You said you wouldn't pry!" Grabbing the picture out of his hands, she glared at him.  
  
"It wasn't intentional. It was just sitting there on your desk in plain view. Besides, if that does have something to do with your so-called secret, I think we have a right to know who or what is staying here with us. Some psycho game freak, or something else…."  
  
Lita looked at him. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."  
  
"Try me," Heero said.  
  
"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you…." She set the picture down and finished putting the laundry in, then picked the picture up and went back to her room.  
  
Heero sat down on the desk chair, while Lita flopped onto her bed. "Well, where should I start…?"  
  
"How about the beginning?"  
  
"That could take a while…but I guess it's the only way any of this will make any sense. See, 1000 years ago there was the thing called the Silver Millenium…." She then proceeded to describe the entire tale, including the fight with Queen Beryl, their rebirth in the future, the enemies they had faced and all they had gone through. (Which I'm sure everyone is quite familiar with at this point). An hour or so later, including all the times Heero interrupted to get something clarified, she had finished the story. "Well, that's all there is too it."  
  
"That's all? That was awfully long for being a 'that's all there is too it' story."  
  
"So what if it is? It's all true."  
  
Heero looked at her skeptically. "You're asking me to believe that you and those 8 others are reincarnations of princesses from other planets that lived 1000 years ago?"  
  
"I know it sounds farfetched, but I swear it's the truth."  
  
"Then prove it."  
  
"How? I can't exactly show you a birth certificate from my past life you know."  
  
"Oh really? How surprising," he said sarcastically.  
  
Grumbling, Lita stood up and, through the magic of inter-dimensional pockets, produced a green heart-shaped crystal. "I didn't want to do this, but it seems this is the only way I can prove my story…."  
  
Heero eyed this object suspiciously. "What is that? Some gem-producing laser you're going to kill me with?"  
  
"Please! I told you we don't kill people." Lita rolled her eyes. "This 'laser' is what I use when I do this." So saying, she held the crystal in front of her and said "Jupiter Crystal Power!". There was a flash of green light, which faded away to reveal one Eternal Sailor Jupiter. She stood there in an outfit consisting of the normal white suit but with puffy sleeves, a skirt layered in 3 shades of green and white knee-high boots with gold crescent moons on the front. There was a gold tiara with a green gem in the center on her forehead, a pink bow on her chest, in the middle of which rested the green crystal, and long thin ribbons of the same sugar pink coming from the back. "Now do you believe me?"  
  
"Not exactly…the outfits don't match you know."  
  
"ARGH! You are so stubborn! It's just an older picture, before we got these transformations."  
  
"If you say so."  
  
Glaring at him, she reversed the transformation back to her "normal" self. "What, you think I'm gonna zap you or something?"  
  
"You should be back in Juuban attending to your duties."  
  
"Why? There's been no enemies for over a year now so none of us have had to use these powers." Lita set the crystal down on the desk between the two pictures. "This…break we've had since Serena defeated Chaos at the Galaxy Cauldron…it's given me a chance to change, to become different person…."  
  
"You became a different person the moment you accepted those responsibilities and powers."  
  
"Well, a little I guess. But I really changed a long time before that, when my parents died." Sighing, she looked at the other picture she kept on her desk. "I was upset, angry, bitter…I didn't understand why other children got to have their parents and I couldn't have mine. It got to the point where I was picking fights with people just because they looked at me wrong. Then, after I got kicked out of my school, I thought maybe at my new one I could fight to protect people from feeling hurt like I did…and that plan backfired too. Got kicked out of yet another school…but I just didn't care. I was alone raising myself. I didn't have many friends and I was horrid student. Then I wound up at Crossroads where I met Serena…well, I became less violent…but I still have kind of a bad temper when it comes to certain things…."  
  
"I see."  
  
"You see what?"  
  
"You're coming here. You think you've failed at a lot of things and being leaving home you can leave those failures in your past behind."  
  
"Now you're acting like a psychologist."  
  
"Well, it's true isn't it? Though I have to say I disagree. Most people your age who have lived like that wouldn't have survived. But there's definitely something telling you you're a failure. Otherwise, you wouldn't have gotten into this whole bride thing in the first place."  
  
"Well, that is one area where I have failed miserably. Every boyfriend I've ever had has dumped me for pretty much the same reason…I'm too much of a tomboy. Gets old after a while…I wanted to give up altogether, but being on your own for such a time can make you long for the company of others. That's why I got into this. I figured a 'blind date' type of husband couldn't be any worse then a loser boyfriend."  
  
"That is logical," Heero answered.  
  
"But enough about me…what about you?"  
  
"Me?"  
  
"Yes. I told you my secret, now I want to know yours. I have the same right to know who or what I'm living with you know," Lita said.  
  
He looked at her a moment, then stated quite bluntly, "I'm a gundam pilot. All of us are."  
  
"Gundam….gundam….oh, wait. I think I heard something on the news about them back home. Aren't they like big robots that blow stuff up?"  
  
"Uh, I guess you could put it that way. But since we are what we are, your association with us makes you a target you know. We don't have many friends either. And especially if one of our enemies was to find out about your…abilities…you'd be a definite target"  
  
"Oh geez…it looks like I've gotten myself into the middle of a nice mess now…."  
  
"We shouldn't have any trouble as long as Relena stays in the dark about your staying here and you don't start glowing again."  
  
"No, no more glowing. Unless absolutely necessary."  
  
Heero raised one eyebrow and stared at her.  
  
"Ok, ok…." She waved her hands in front of her. "Not at all, scouts honor."  
  
"You don't believe me?"  
  
"Let's just say I've heard that line before. Besides, I'm naturally suspicious. It comes with the job I guess."  
  
"Well, that's logical. I mean, in a job like the one you have you can't be too careful," Lita said understandingly.  
  
Then, almost as suddenly as Heero had turned …"friendly"… if you will, he turned back into his usual emotionless self. "You can never be too careful anytime or with anything. In order to survive there are things you have to bury and hide."  
  
"You're still hiding something from me aren't you Heero?"  
  
"And what if I am? I'm sorry I can't be as open as you are," he said harshly.  
  
Lita was a bit taken aback. "I didn't mean it that way. And anyway, you shouldn't be sorry for who you are and you should take some sort of pride or something in what you've done."  
  
"And you should follow your own advice," Heero countered before getting up and leaving the room. 


	5. Guns, Kitchens, and the Beginings of Wor...

As with almost everything else in the world, I lay no claim to any of these characters. They don't belong to me no matter how much I'd like them too.  
  
Polling Place! = I know I said I wasn't planning on killing Relena off, but as I've been developing the story more, it seems that she might actually get knocked off... *_*; I was wondering what you all would think if at one point in the story I had Lita kill her off. (This question might make more "sense" once you've read the chapter.)  
  
YEAH! We will have other scouts showing up in the next chapter, promise! I swear the other's will come in eventually, but all you outers fans should be pleased because two of them will be in the plot and another will make a cameo appearance to help the plot along…and the plot WILL be carried out in chapter six! Gomen about the other scouts not being in here so much, but they will come in later, yakusoku suru! (I promise!) And they might even wind up getting a little romance themselves…^_^  
  
As promised, this chapter will be more entertaining, hopefully, then the last. Unfortunately, you have to get through some boring parts to get to the good stuff. Hope this makes up for it!  
  
The next few days were a true test of patience. Every since the so- called dirty laundry incident, there had been a lot of tension between certain parties. Lita tried to cover her nervousness, wondering when Heero was going to tell everybody else her "little" secret. Heero wasn't too happy about spilling his either, even though to have kept it from her would have been unfair. However, what was really getting under Heero's skin wasn't that…it was Lita herself. Not only because every time he thought about her he found himself getting all confused, but she was driving him crazy…literally.  
  
Finally, much to Heero's relief, Friday did come at last. As everybody came back from the Peacecraft Academy that afternoon, they found Heero standing at the door waiting for them, a rather smug look on his face.  
  
"Whoa, Heero what's the deal with stalking us?"  
  
"You are going to suffer with me for the entire weekend Duo, every last one of you!" he exclaimed, pointing to all the pilots in turn.  
  
"What do you mean suffer?" Quatre asked hesitantly.  
  
"I mean this." Heero held up a bullet-riddled sheet of paper with four bulls eyes printed on it, all of which had a picture of Heero superimposed over them.  
  
Wufei laughed. "She used you for target practice…hahaha!" Then he suddenly stopped, realizing something. "Yuy…if that onna shot those holes…then she must have had a gun…"  
  
"Say, Wu-man's right Heero. We didn't realize we were living with somebody else who was armed and dangerous."  
  
Heero glared at Duo. "For your information, she is not armed. She was using my gun."  
  
Duo's eyes popped out of his head. "YOU LET HER TOUCH YOUR GUN?? YOU WON'T EVEN LET ME COME WITHIN 30 FEET OF IT!"  
  
"Yuy, you are getting careless if you let her find out you had a gun." Wufei frowned. "She's going to get suspicious."  
  
"It doesn't matter. She already knows about us."  
  
"She what??" Wufei shouted.  
  
"I told her our 'secret' in exchange for hers."  
  
"So what is the deal with the glow bug anyway?" Duo asked.  
  
"That's for her to tell, not me." Heero said.  
  
"So that's it? You're not going to tell us?"  
  
"No Duo, I'm not…and believe me, it's in our best interest if nobody else finds out."  
  
"Yeah, yeah…ok Heero. But will you at least tell us how she got a hold of your gun then? Unless you told her you had one."  
  
"I'm not stupid Duo. But I kind of slipped once…. She thinks she's recovered now and she refuses to stay put anywhere and rest like Quatre left instructions for her to do. She kept sneaking off and trying to do something where I wouldn't find her…I finally had it, so I pulled out the gun and told her if she didn't do exactly as Quatre said I was going to kill her."  
  
"HEERO!" Quatre exclaimed. "You can't kill the help!"  
  
"I wasn't planning on actually doing it."  
  
"Well, did it work? Did you scare her into staying put?"  
  
"Not exactly. She told me she wanted to see my gun because she'd never seen one up close before…she's as bad as you are Duo…has to see everything…." Grumbling, Heero continued. "Anyway, I let her have it and she immediately pointed it back at me and told me that unless I quite acting like a prison warden she was going to kill me."  
  
"Yuy, you're getting soft!" Wufei interrupted. "Allowing an onna to threaten you like that with your own gun. Disgraceful."  
  
Heero made a face before continuing. "It wasn't any threat. You should have seen the way she was holding it…it was obvious she didn't know the first thing about guns or shooting one. When she realized that her 'threat' wasn't going to do anything, she demanded that I teach her how to use the gun so she could give me a real threat the next time."  
  
"I can't believe you actually did that Yuy…letting that glowing…whatever she is…learn how to handle a weapon."  
  
"It was either that or run all over the house looking for her. Frankly, it's easier to keep her in line if I know where she is and what she's doing Wufei."  
  
"That explains those funny targets then," Duo snickered. "She was mad at you, so she had you print those up so she could take out her frustrations on you…safely…."  
  
"Hn."  
  
At that moment, Lita appeared in the entryway, where they were all still standing. "Thank god the rest of you are here! Now maybe I can get some relief from the prison warden."  
  
"Well...you certainly look to be much better," Quatre said.  
  
"Of course I am! Now please Quatre…please let me start working again. I can't stand not being able to do anything. I know you were only doing it for my own good, but please, oh please I can't take it anymore!"  
  
He laughed. "All right, all right. But only if you do me a favor in return."  
  
"Anything!" Lita exclaimed.  
  
"We've been in sad shape the last few days that I confined you to resting. None of us are really good in the kitchen…so if you could give us a lesson…?"  
  
"INJUSTICE! Cooking is women's work and I will not do it!"  
  
"If Quatre says you are going to have a lesson in cooking, then you will get a lesson in cooking," she said plainly. "And if you do not show up, I will use your katana for target practice next time."  
  
"You wouldn't dare!"  
  
"Do you really want to find out?"  
  
Wufei glared at her.  
  
Duo laughed. "It is a good idea though. I mean...Heero's idea of food is anything instant. Wufei can only make rice balls and all Trowa can make is soup. I don't know about Quatre."  
  
"You're one to talk," Heero said a tad angrily. "Everything you make has sugar in it whether it's supposed to have sugar or not."  
  
"But I like sugar," Duo said, pouting. "What's wrong with sugar?"  
  
"Look in a mirror," Wufei answered.  
  
"That was mean Wu-man!"  
  
"It was true."  
  
"ARGH! Quit it you two! Tomorrow morning, 10 a.m. in the kitchen. Understood?"  
  
"Yes ma'am," Duo said, saluting.  
  
"Good. I except all of you to be there…no exceptions."  
  
And all of them were, much to Lita's surprise. "Well, I'm glad to see you all here. So let's get started…Heero, you and Duo will be working together as will Quatre, Trowa and Wufei. Small groups will be good for you…help each other and learn to get along too."  
  
"That's a sneaky trick," Wufei grumbled.  
  
"Yes, well…I live with sneaky people, so it's bound to rub off."  
  
"Quatre, we will have to do something about this. I think leaving her here with Heero was not a good idea. He appears to be a bad influence."  
  
"Oh my god…Trowa that was the longest sentence I've heard you say in like…forever!" Duo said.  
  
"EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" Lita yelled. "Now quit stalling." That said, she proceeded with the lesson…boy, what a mess that turned out to be. Duo and Heero were fighting over the amount of sugar to put into the cake, resulting in Heero waving his gun around in an attempt to get Duo to be reasonable. Meanwhile, Wufei was refusing to participate because this was "an onna's job" as he said.  
  
"That does it," Lita announced. "We have to fix this. As Quatre and Trowa are the only ones getting along, they will continue working together. Wufei, you will be working with Duo because you won't allow that much sugar in your food so you'll be forced to participate."  
  
"INJUSTICE!"  
  
Ignoring Wufei, Lita continued. "Heero, you work with Quatre and Trowa and we'll see how this arrangement turns out."  
  
Much to her delight, it worked out much better. As she had predicted, Wufei did indeed participate because he didn't want his cake to be full of sugar. Quatre, being a peacemaker of sorts, was able to convince Heero to put his gun away and behave himself. In time, both groups had finished and were ready to get approval from the teacher.  
  
Lita started with Quatre's group, since they had been more cooperative for the most part. Their cake looked and tasted just fine. "Good job you guys." Then she moved onto Duo and Wufei's cake. "Well, it looks ok…" She cut a small piece, and choked it down, eyes watering.  
  
"See, told you it'd be ok Wufei."  
  
Wufei frowned. "To much sugar…I knew it was, but Maxwell wouldn't listen to me."  
  
"Did you put the sugar in Duo?" Lita asked.  
  
He shook his head. "I told Wufei how much and he put it in. Why?"  
  
"Show me the sugar you used."  
  
Wufei held up a container. "Here."  
  
She stuck her finger in and taste tested it. "I thought so. Wufei…that wasn't sugar you put it, it was salt."  
  
"SALT?"  
  
"Yes Wufei, salt."  
  
"And you said I was going to mess it up," Duo said, laughing.  
  
"SHUT UP MAXWELL!"  
  
"Oh both of you just stop it," Lita said. "Now, could we please continue?"  
  
"With what? We're done."  
  
"Not quite Duo. I'd like to see what you can do on your own, now that you have some vague idea of what you're doing. And Wufei, you may not refrain from participating. Oh, and no slacking…you guys will be eating this when you're done with it so unless you want to eat something that tastes like moldy socks you will do your best. Now, here are your recipes." She pulled out some index cards and handed them out.  
  
"Mine says meatloaf on it," Wufei said. "What nonsense is this? Meat does not come in loaves."  
  
"Wufei…it will come in a loaf when you're done following the instructions ok?"  
  
He mumbled to himself and went hunting for his ingredients.  
  
"NO FAIR! I don't wanna make this layered salad or whatever it is."  
  
"Duo…you are making salad because it has no sugar in it," Lita said. "And frankly, I don't think even you would want to eat sugar coated vegetables."  
  
Duo made a face.  
  
"I didn't think so, and before anybody else asks…Heero you are making bread because it involves some weird chemical process things…and that seems to fit. Quatre, you're making dessert because I know you won't load it with sugar and Trowa's making a kind of appetizer because I figured it'd be hard for him to mess that up since his hair covers up one eye and I don't know how well he can read like that. Now everybody start."  
  
It wasn't long before the chaos started. Wufei was instantly up in arms over the meatloaf once he realized there was no rice in it. Duo was grumbling about not getting to use any sugar. When Trowa opened up the package of kabob skewers, one of them flew out and accidentally hit Wufei, prompting a skewer fight between the two. Since this battle was going on over his head, Quatre decided to relocate…unfortunately, Wufei and Trowa's battle resulted in a glass of water being spilled and Quatre slipped on the puddle, dousing the floor and himself with the contents of his bowl.  
  
Just when Lita thought things couldn't get any worse, she heard somebody talking and looked over to see Heero staring at the bread, saying, "I need bread."  
  
"Um…Heero, why are you talking to the bread?" Lita asked. This of course, got everybody's attention.  
  
Duo laughed. "Heero is talking to the bread…."  
  
Heero glared and shoved his card in Duo's face. "There is a typo. It says 'knead' but it should read 'need'. It says do that 16 times, so I'm needing the bread 16 times."  
  
She tried not to laugh, but she couldn't help it and Lita collapsed against the counter in a fit of giggles. "No Heero, that wasn't a typo. 'Knead' means something like fold…like this," she said, demonstrating. "You don't have to tell the dough you need it 16 times." Still laughing, she tried to stop. But it didn't help that everyone else was laughing at his mistake too. However, Heero himself seemed unaffected. The only sign that he was embarrassed was a tiny tinge of pink that appeared on his face.  
  
Clearing her throat, Lita managed to compose herself, feeling bad for him. "Ok everybody…get this mess cleaned up and let's finish up in a civilized manner please? That means no more skewer fights, no grumbling about lack of ingredients, and no tormenting each other."  
  
The rest of the time passed smoothly and in the end everything came out just fine. Even Wufei had to admit that maybe meatloaf wasn't too bad after all.  
  
The rest of Saturday and most of Sunday found Lita trying to catch up on her work and she did manage to do all of it, with a little help of course. After finishing the last of her make-up work, she gathered her materials up in front of her, but didn't move.  
  
"Do you plan on sitting there all night?" Heero said, already at work on his laptop.  
  
"No, but I wanted apologize. I didn't realize I was such a bad 'patient' as such and I'm sorry for what happened yesterday during the cooking lesson. That was totally uncalled for on my part. I guess I just kind of took it for granted you guys would understand a little more since I do this all the time. Anyway, I want to make it up to you."  
  
"If it involves bread, the answer is no."  
  
Lita sighed. "No, it doesn't involve bread. I was thinking more along the lines of getting back at Duo for what he did to you."  
  
Heero turned around in his chair. "Oh, you mean that whole…thing."  
  
She nodded. "I have a couple friends who I'm sure would help, and I know that after a little persuasion they could convince a third to help…otherwise it won't work. But I'm sure they can convince her. I mean, after all it isn't like she has any real duties right now and besides she needs a good laugh anyway."  
  
"Slow down a minute…I'm just a little lost here."  
  
"Oh, sorry…guess I got carried away. But I was thinking something like this…." She then proceeded to outline her plan. "Well, what do you think?"  
  
"Those two you mentioned…they're the 'special' ones aren't they?"  
  
"Yeah…just never heard them called 'special' before…." She shrugged. "Oh, well."  
  
He thought for a moment. "Well, if she can be convinced to help, then everything should work out quite nicely."  
  
"Good," Lita said, grinning. "I'll get in touch with them tomorrow and see what arrangements we can make."  
  
"Over the phone? Are you sure that's a good idea?"  
  
"I won't be using the phone."  
  
"Then what?"  
  
"I have my ways," she answered, picking up everything and heading back down to her room; leaving behind one who wondered just what she was up to now.  
  
Of course, tomorrow came and found the group heading to the Peacecraft Academy per usual arrangements, to face the beginning of another week. At first, it seemed as if all would go well…but that notion soon vanished when Relena approached Heero during lunch and told him that she wanted to see all of them after school, including Miss Kino.  
  
"Damn," Heero swore under his breath.  
  
"She suspects something doesn't she?" Quatre asked.  
  
"I knew that onna would be nothing but trouble." Wufei grumbled.  
  
"Well, maybe Relena doesn't suspect anything. We'll just have to wait and see," Duo said, trying to be optimistic. His optimism was short lived, vanishing when the group stood in front of Relena as she scrutinized them carefully.  
  
"I find it rather interesting that two of you should be absent on the same day and come back the same day," Relena said, shuffling some papers on her desk. "I find it rather hard to believe that whatever mission you had Heero, could be more important then protecting me. Not to mention, that you all seem to be on good terms with Miss Kino here. There's something fishy about this whole situation and I want some answers."  
  
"Oh lay off Relena. No need to get paranoid."  
  
"Duo, I won't lay off. Something isn't right here and I'm going to find out what it is."  
  
"Please…you need to stop being so jealous."  
  
"I'm not jealous!"  
  
"You are too!" Duo exclaimed. "Geez, I mean really…she's just hired help after all."  
  
"Damn it Maxwell, you and your big mouth!" Wufei shouted, yanking on Duo's braid.  
  
"Hired help hmm?" Relena looked at Lita. "Is this true?"  
  
"I…I…." She stuttered, unsure of herself.  
  
"She'll find out anyway…might as well tell her now," Heero said.  
  
"Tell me what?" Relena asked.  
  
"I'm Quatre's, I mean Mr. Winner's cook," Lita answered. "And…and I live in his house…or mansion, whatever you want to call it."  
  
"YOU LIVE UNDER THE SAME ROOF AS MY HEERO?"  
  
"I'm not your Heero," he said angrily.  
  
"You dirty sneak," Relena said, thrusting out some papers. "I bet these enrollment forms aren't even real, are they?"  
  
"Well, since you asked…no. I'm not 18, I'm 16 and I was a terrible student back home."  
  
Relena was furious. "You know that this admission means that you will be expelled from this place. I won't have people like you here polluting my school." She picked up the phone to make the call to the appropriate office in order to have the expulsion endorsed. (See, even though she owns the school she still has to answer to somebody…the checks and balance system…has to be good for something.)  
  
"Oh no you don't," Heero said, grabbing the receiver and slamming it back down. "We forged those papers for her because she wanted to come here. We knew it was a risk, but we decided we were willing to take it. If you make that call…."  
  
"Then you'll get in trouble too…DAMN YOU!" Relena slammed her fist down on her desk. "Then I guess I have no choice but to put her in her appropriate age level."  
  
"I think not," Heero replied. "What does it matter how old she is if she can do the work? I make a promise to you Relena…if you don't leave things as they are, then we will be forced to resign our mission here."  
  
"HEERO! You can't do that! You're supposed to protect me!"  
  
"I don't care what I'm supposed to do…if you fail to keep your nose out of this, it will not be overlooked by any of us. Come on guys." He headed out of the room, the others following.  
  
As Lita was turning to go, Relena stopped her by grabbing her wrist.  
  
"You're position here is safe…for now…but don't think for one minute that you're off the hook missy…I'll be watching you," she said acidly. 


	6. All Hell Breaks Lose

Gee, what do you know.I still don't own any of these characters, or their respective shows either. College students can't afford to buy the rights to things like that I wouldn't think.but I guess I could be wrong.  
  
Well, with the site acting up and all, work, and my being sick it's taken a while to get this next chapter out. The plot has finally been introduced! The rest will follow in chapter 7. In spite of my apparent lack of a mind, I'm glad to see that people seem to still enjoy the story. Thanks to all who have reviewed!  
  
Anyhow, I will now apologize to anybody who might happen to be Relena and/or Lita lovers. Both will be acting very much out of character. Just a warning so that I don't get flamed for the scene where Lita blows cigarette smoke in Relena's face, and other such incidents. (And in case you're horrified at reading that, I will say now that Lita is NOT a smoker.explanation of such props can be found in the story. If you're wondering where the idea came from in the first place, it comes from the original character profile of Sailor Jupiter-she was supposed to be 17, a gang member, and a chain smoker.fortunately Naoko didn't keep her character that way!)  
  
Enjoy!  
  
It was Tuesday that things really started. After school that day, Lita marched herself into Relena's office-like area. "So.trying to flunk me out are you?" "What are you talking about?" "These," Lita said, waving a handful of papers in Relena's face. "Everyone of these has been returned with a grade of F. I want them regarded."  
  
"I can't help you," Relena shrugged. "Talk to the professors if you think you've been treated unfairly." "But I did.and they told me to come see you. I know these answers are right.my tutor checked them." "Tutor.? What tutor?" "That doesn't really matter now does it? Now I want these regarded and I want the credit I deserve for doing this work."  
  
"You were given failing grades. Obviously you must have deserved them if they were given to you." "You want to play dirty? Then watch your back.I can play a pretty dirty game myself." Glaring, Lita stuffed her papers into her backpack and stormed out. "I take it your.talk.didn't go well," Duo ventured as she reached the bottom step of the stairway leading to the front doors of the academy. "What was your first clue?" she growled, cracking her knuckles. "Um.that's a hard one." "That stupid, stuck-up.brat.seems to have instructed all the professors to give me failing grades, no matter what my work is like. I think she hopes that by flunking me she can retain me in this grade or have me moved to a lower grade with easier work." "Remember, you promised.no glowing," Heero said. "Yeah, yeah.I know. But you don't know how hard it was to hold back. I just wanna fry the hair right off her head!" "Please remind me not to get her mad at me.I don't want my hair fried off." "No, I won't fry your hair Duo, I promise. I'm trying to cut down on violence anyway." Quatre sighed, relieved. "Good.for a minute there you had me worried you were going to do something." "Just because I'm not going to beat the living snot out of her doesn't mean I'm not going to do something. I refuse to be intimidated by the likes of her." "So what are you going to do?" Duo asked. "I'm going shopping!" she announced. "That's why I hate women," Wufei said. "They always have to go shopping." Lita rolled her eyes. "This is not a pleasure trip. And for your information, this is the longest period of time in the last two years that has passed without me going to a mall, so there." "What does shopping have to do with getting back at Relena anyway?" he asked. "Well, the way I see it.if I'm going to get even with her, I might as well have some fun doing it." "She does have a point," Duo said in agreement. "I'm glad you feel that way.because you've just volunteered to take me to the mall." "I.I did what?" "You heard me." Resigned to his fate, Duo did indeed take her shopping. Fortunately for him, she didn't wander all over the mall looking at everything, and within a couple hours they had returned home. Everyone.well, almost everyone. was curious to know what she had brought back with her, but she simply grinned and said "It's a secret." They found out all too soon. Wednesday morning came, and Wufei was drumming his fingers on the doorframe. "If we don't leave now, we are going to be late. Where is that stupid onna?" "Ok, you can stop talking about me now Wufei," Lita said, appearing in the entryway with her backpack. She was wearing a short, black leather trench coat over a dark green shirt. Also included was a black leather mini-skirt (but it wasn't too short.she is kind of tall after all) and a pair of knee high black boots, all topped of with just a touch of make up. "Sorry I'm late, but it took me a little longer then normal to get ready." Quatre almost had a heart attack. "You aren't seriously going to school like that are you?" "Of course I am. Relena won't be able to stand it," she said grinning. "It'll drive her absolutely nuts." "Along with most of the guys in our class," Duo mumbled to himself. "Because they are weak and have no control," Wufei snorted. "If you don't want to be late, we should leave now," Trowa said, looking at his watch. And so they made their way to school. Relena was mortified when she saw them show up. Marching over in a huff, she grabbed Lita's wrist and dragged her aside. "I do believe you are severely violating the dress code by wearing this.abomination." Lita laughed. "What are you going to do about it, expel me? You know the consequences if you do.so you can't lay a hand on me." Smiling smugly, Lita turned and went into the school without giving the flabbergasted and irritated Relena a chance to respond. During the Pacifist Politics class that Relena taught, she decided to try getting a cut in at Lita. "Miss Kino," she said with forced politeness, "I'm afraid we don't allow jackets in class." "You're wearing one," Lita said. "It's part of the uniform, which you aren't wearing." "No, but it is part of my outfit." "I don't care. I asked you to take it off." Lita shrugged. "Suit yourself." She took the jacket off, revealing the shirt underneath. The dark green shirt was rather tight fitting and had the word princess printed in silver glitter across the front. Relena turned bright red. "PRINCESS? I'm the ONLY princess around here." "That's what you think," Lita said. The pacifist princess scowled. "I will not be mocked like this."  
  
"I'm not mocking you. It's true.that's your opinion. And before you threaten to expel me for having an opinion.you better keep what was said in mind." Relena scowled, and scowled some more. She was furious. Her plans for getting even hadn't done anything. She would have to wait. Relena finally got her chance at lunch. She went hunting for Lita, only to see her sitting on a bench near the pilots. Grumbling, she went over and tapped Lita's shoulder. Upon getting her attention, Relena said, "I've been receiving complaints all morning that your state of dress is causing a great disturbance among the class. So I've decided upon appropriate disciplinary actions for you." "Disciplinary actions hmm?" Lita fished around in her backpack and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "And that's contraband! You know smoking isn't allowed on the premises. That will result in extra measures." "Please." Lita pulled a cigarette out and lit it, sticking it in her mouth while she put the lighter and the rest of the cigarettes away. "I'm warning you.you will be doing some heavy duty time cleaning bathrooms here if you don't start following the rules. They do apply to everyone you know." Lita laughed, taking a slow drag off the cigarette. "They don't apply to me. You can't expel me and you know that. I have the upper hand here Miss Priss and there isn't a damn thing you can do about it. As for you and your disciplinary actions, I don't clean up after the likes of you and I don't take punishment from the likes of you either. So you can take that discipline and shove it." So saying, she blew a cloud of smoke right in Relena's face. "Now leave me the hell alone." Relena was quite agitated. She knew quite well that she couldn't expel Lita and it annoyed her to know that somebody had such a power over her; but she was determined to do something about it. "Just you wait Kino.I'll get you eventually. I swear I will." Hacking and brushing the haze of smoke away, she stormed off, having temporarily been beaten again. After Relena stormed off in her fit of rage, Lita tossed the cigarette to the dirt and ground it out with her boot. It was only then that she noticed the 5 pairs of eyes staring at her. "What?" "That cigarette." Duo said. "Oh that?" Lita shrugged it off. "I'm not a smoker if that's what you're thinking." "Then why the cigarettes?" She sighed and leaned back against the bench. "Right before I started at Crossroads Jr. High, I beat up a kid from my old school for calling me stupid. It would be my luck that a 'gang' of high schoolers were around to see it and decided to initiate me. I didn't have many friends, so acceptance of any sort was ok by me at that point. I decided I had to fit in, which meant smoking. But I hated everything about it.smelled bad and well, you know.. It only lasted a couple days though. I found out they were planning on robbing some store and I didn't want any part of that so I ditched. Well, the leader came after me demanding to know why I hadn't shown and calling me a chicken.so I beat him to a pulp and they never bothered me again. That about cover it?" "Yeah, I guess." Duo answered. "But I still don't get quite why you did it." "Well, she's always blowing so much smoke, I though somebody oughta blow a little back at her." He laughed. "I do agree with you there."  
  
~~~Later that Afternoon~~~  
  
Lita stormed into the kitchen, dropping her backpack on the table. "I was only looking to irritate Relena.I wasn't looking for anything else!" "What do you expect, dressing like that." Wufei said blandly. "Oh shut up Wu-man," Duo said. "It just means that she must be popular if so many guys were hitting on her." "If that was their idea of hitting on me, then I don't want it." She threw her jacket onto the table. "I don't see what the big deal is," Heero said. "Its just clothes. It isn't like there aren't other girls who dress like that." Everyone looked at him a little oddly. "What?" he asked. "You.you're not going to say anything?" Duo asked. Heero shrugged. "It's not our place to tell her what to wear." "That is true," Trowa said. "Well, thanks.I think," Lita said, scratching her head. "But I think I'm giving up on this one." So saying she disappeared into her room, where she spent a good part of the night, except for when she was cooking or getting help on her homework. Later that night, Heero went down to the kitchen. He had missed dinner that night, being the busy guy that he was. As he leaned against the counter eating his sandwich, he heard a voice coming from Lita's room. In a covert attempt to eavesdrop, he tripped and fell on the floor with a thump. Immediately, the kitchen light came on and Lita was standing in the doorway of her room. "Heero?" He stood up and brushed himself off. "Yes, it's me." "What are you doing down here at this time of night?" He picked up the remnants of his sandwich off the floor. "Eating." "So I see," she answered, watching as he threw it away in the trash. "And what are you doing up at this time of night?" he asked. She flushed guiltily. "I know, I know it's late.but I had to talk to Setsuna.." "Time differences." Lita nodded. "I don't think she'd be happy to be woken up in the middle of the night for this. But anyway, I've made arrangements for this Saturday, around noon. And Setsuna will be here tomorrow night around this time to pick up your part." Heero nodded. "Understood. It will be ready." Without so much as a goodnight, he turned and went back upstairs to his room. The following day saw a continuation of the previous day's battle As soon as Lita walked into the classroom, she was immediately surrounded by a group of students. "Is it true," one girl asked, "that you're the boss of a secret lesbian mafia organization?" Lita blinked. "Excuse me?" "That's what Relena told us," the said. "Figures. And no, it isn't true. But I'll tell you something that is. Relena has a serious scalp problem and she can't grow her own hair, so she wears a wig." "No way!" another student cried out. "I always thought her hair looked a little fake.." Just then, Relena walked into the room and herd of students crowded around her and started yanking on her hair, trying to see if it was fake or not. "OUCH! What are you doing??" "Lita told us you wear a wig," a young man said. Relena glared. "Well, I don't. She lied to you." "Just like you lied to them about me," Lita smiled sweetly. "Paybacks are hell aren't the Relena?" "Only if you're the one on the receiving end," she replied. Everything was quiet until the physical activities portion of the day. This Tuesday was horse back riding and swimming day. Nothing out of the ordinary happened until Lita climbed up onto her horse. Upon sitting down in the saddle, she was promptly thrown off. Cursing silently, she brushed the dust from her jack and stood up. "Are you ok?" Duo asked, hopping down from his horse as the group of pilots rode over. "Yeah, I think so." Still mumbling, Lita went and looked the horse over as best as she could in it's frenzied state. "That's odd," she said frowning. "I can't find anything wrong with it." Heero got of his horse and began his own search. After a few minutes, he held up a small brown object. "This was under the saddle blanket," he said. "A burr.stupid. She could have hurt the horse doing that!" Lita fumed, climbing back on after making sure the horse was calmer. She was still fuming half an hour later.and her bad mood was only made worse when she saw Relena perched on the fence of the corral they were riding around in. Deciding to take her down a peg or two, as Lita rode by, she reached out and pushed Relena off the fence into the dirt. Feeling quite satisfied with herself, she continued on. However, Relena wasn't about to let this go. Later on, Lita was headed to the locker room to change for the swimming class. Relena was headed in the opposite direction and just happened to be walking right by Lita. So Relena elbowed Lita, knocking her into the pool fully clothed. Lita clamored out of the pool, her hair plastered to her head, her clothes soaking wet, and a dark scowl etched on her face. Seeing Relena's back as she walked out of the pool area, Lita picked up a conveniently placed water polo ball and tossed at Relena's head, scoring a direct hit. Even that though, did little to improve her mood and she spent the rest of the day with the proverbial black rain cloud over her head. That night, around the time Setsuna was supposed to arrive, there was a knock at her door. "I don't have time for this!" she said just loud enough for the person on the other side to hear her. Guess she's still in a bad mood, Heero thought to himself. The door suddenly jerked open. "Oh.it's you." "Yes, it's me." He shoved an envelope into her hand. "Here. This is my part." "Thanks." She went and put it on her desk. "About the only thing that's gone right today." "Oh, I don't know," Heero shrugged. "Relena should have good size bump on her head from that hit she took." "I hope so.but with my luck her head's so hard it probably dented the ball instead." "Well, that's certainly a possibility." Just then, Heero could see a purplish fog gathering in the room he was looking into. He pushed past Lita and pulled out his gun, pointing it directly at the green haired, sailor suited woman in front of him. "Heero! You can't kill Setsuna!" Lita hissed loudly. He paused for a moment, and then he recognized the woman from the picture on Lita's desk. "Sailor Pluto." he said, shoving his gun back where he pulled it from. "I'm glad you remembered." Shaking her head, she handed the envelope on her desk to her fellow scout. "I'm sorry about that Setsuna." The Keeper of Time merely nodded, tucking the letter away. "If I were you Heero, I'd be careful about who I pulled that gun on. It could get you in trouble sometime." Heero stared at her. "How do you know my name?" "You forget who I am. I am master of past, present, and future.especially when it concerns any of us. You and your comrades have had and will have a large impact on her life, so of course I know who you all are." So saying, she waved her staff in the air forming the foggy portal once again. Before she entered it, she turned around. "Everything proceeds according to plan.expect us Saturday at noon.you know where to look for us. But I don't expect you know where to look for what is missing," she said, disappearing into the portal. Lita frowned. "I wonder what she meant by that.I haven't lost anything." "Neither have I." Shrugging, the two parted and went their separate ways for the night. As the days had passed already, the coming days went the same way. Relena and Lita were constantly waging their war. Lita would put tacks on Relena's chair. Relena would in turn throw gum into Lita's hair while passing by, causing Lita to leave nasty messages on the walls of the girl's restroom; and so it continued all week long. Finally, Saturday morning arrived. Heero and Duo had "some errands" to run in town, and Lita asked if she might tag along. She told them she wanted to stop at the station to get some information because she was thinking about going and visiting her friends in Juuban. Finding her request reasonable, they agreed and stopped at the station. Heero and Duo waited outside on the platform while Lita made her inquires inside the building. She came out just in time to see an aqua haired young lady carrying a violin case disembark from the train. The young lady walked down the platform, stopping occasionally to talk to various people. It wasn't long before her questions reached Duo's ears. "Excuse me miss," he said, tapping her shoulder. "I couldn't help overhearing. You're looking for Duo Maxwell?" She nodded. "That's right. Would you happen to know where I might find him?" He grinned. "Speaking. What can I do for you?" The young lady smiled politely. "I am Michiru Kaioh and I'm your mail order bride." 


	7. Tricks and Crushed Roses

* sigh * I STILL don't own any of the characters in the following, and I don't think I ever will either.  
  
Have you all been sufficiently scared now? Not to worry, Duo will NOT be paired with Michiru.just part of the plot of revenge. However, I am giving serious consideration to pairing up the rest of the inner sailors with the other pilots a little later on in the story. I'm open to pairing suggestions for the rest of the couples, so let me know if you have any ideas. (If you like, you may vote to have Serena stay with Darien also.)  
  
I apologize for the way chapter 6 uploaded. My file doesn't look like that, I swear. I tried re-uploading it and it did the same thing.so I guess it's FFNet's "fault". I also apologize for getting this update out a little late. I just upgraded my computer to XP and well.wouldn't you know it, my computer isn't compatible with XP so I had to wait for a patch to fix it. Like you all really care.but it was driving me bonkers. O_O ( This is chibi Nixie waving her arms in frustration to illustrate.  
  
Thank you all for your continued support! I was really flattered to find out when I checked my stats page the other day that I had been added to somebody's favorite's list. Whoever you are, I just want you to know that you and everybody else that has reviewed has made me feel that my work is appreciated (even though I don't write for myself). Thanks again, and enjoy!  
  
"My.my what!?!?!"  
  
"Your mail order bride," she repeated. "Did you forget I was to arrive this afternoon?"  
  
"FORGET?? I never knew you were coming at all!!" Duo shouted.  
  
"You didn't?" Michiru asked, frowning slightly. "But I received a letter from you with your signature on it. This is your signature isn't it?" She held out some papers she had retrieved from her purse.  
  
Duo inspected the papers, scratching his head. "Well, yeah.that is my signature but I never saw this.wait a minute!" He whirled around to confront his fellow pilot when all of a sudden a loud voice interrupted.  
  
"HEY YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY GIRLFRIEND??"  
  
Duo turned around to see a tall blonde glaring at him. "Um..would you believe I have no idea?"  
  
"No I wouldn't!" The blonde brought a fist up to his face. "Now you have some explaining to do mister."  
  
Duo's face went a little pale. "Explaining? Here, he'll explain everything to you!" So saying, he dashed behind Heero and shoved him in front of the blonde.  
  
"Come back here and answer like a man!"  
  
"ACK!" Duo took off running down the platform, the blonde chasing along behind.  
  
As he ran by, Lita doubled over laughing. Michiru hid a smile behind her hand, silently laughing at the sight of the blonde running around in circles with one Mr. Maxwell, hanging on to his braid. Even the corners of Heero's mouth were twitching slightly as he watched the spectacle.  
  
Duo managed to turn and yank his braid free, only to find himself backed up against a wall. Cringing, he prepared to duck the fist he was expecting to come toward him at any moment. Imagine his surprise when all of a sudden the blonde started laughing.  
  
"Boy, you were right Lita.this guy is great to mess with."  
  
"Wait a minute.you know Lita?" Duo asked.  
  
The blonde nodded and stuck out a hand. "Name's Haruka Tenoh. Lita's a friend of mine from Juuban. You've already met my girlfriend Michiru," Haruka said grinning.  
  
Duo shook Haruka's hand, glaring at Heero. "You set me up you.you.."  
  
"It wasn't my idea. It was all hers," Heero answered, pointing to a still giggling Lita.  
  
"LITA??"  
  
"Sorry Duo.but you have to admit it was rather funny. I mean, you should have seen your face.."  
  
Duo scratched his head. "Well, I guess I kinda did have it coming didn't I.." Then he laughed. "I have to admit, you two did a pretty good job."  
  
"I thought so," Lita said proudly. "Say you guys.would you like to come over and stay for a while? Quatre has plenty of room and I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I brought a couple friends over."  
  
Haruka smiled. "Thanks for the invite, but we really can't stay. We promised Hotaru we'd back to see her in her school play and tomorrow is the last performance."  
  
Duo stared. "You mean you two came over her all the way from Japan just for this??"  
  
Michiru smiled. "Not exactly. I just finished a term at a music conservatory here and we're on our way home now."  
  
"I'm sorry you have to leave so soon, but it was great to see you again," Lita said, hugging both of her friends. "Tell Hotaru good luck for me and say hi to the other's when you get back ok?"  
  
"Will do," Haruka said, glancing at her watch. "Damn it.we gotta go now Michi or we're gonna miss the train out to the airport."  
  
"Good-bye. It was nice to meet all of you," Michiru said.  
  
Haruka waved good-bye and the two turned, disappearing into the crowd on the platform.  
  
Lita sighed as she lost sight of them in the mass of people.  
  
"Homesick?" Duo asked.  
  
"A little maybe. It's just that I don't get to see Haruka and Michiru that often. Michiru is a really talented violinist, so she gives lots of concerts. And when they aren't going to a concert, they're at one of Haruka's races.she's a race car driver."  
  
"Oh, well I can understand that. I mean, if I didn't get to see some friends for a while I'd probably feel the same way." He stopped. "Wait a minute.did you say she?"  
  
"Yeah.why?"  
  
"You mean Haruka's a girl?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Duo promptly collapsed.  
  
"Maybe I shouldn't have told him?" Lita asked.  
  
Heero shrugged. "He'll be alright. Just being over dramatic as usual."  
  
"I heard that," answered the "stricken" young man.  
  
"See? I told you so."  
  
"You are just plain mean Heero."  
  
Lita laughed. "Ok you two.I think we've had enough excitement for one day."  
  
"Yeah," Duo answered. "Any more excitement and Heero might actually smile," he said, rolling his eyes.  
  
Heero looked at him, one eyebrow raised.  
  
"Hey, don't pretend you don't know what I'm talking about buddy.don't think I didn't see you trying not to laugh."  
  
"Hn."  
  
Duo looked back at Lita. "Oh yeah.so much excitement that he's reverted to monosyllabic words."  
  
"I'm impressed you can even say monosyllabic.much less understand it."  
  
Duo stuck his tongue out at Heero.  
  
"Ok, ok.enough already!" Lita exclaimed. "It's been a long week.let's not drag it out.?"  
  
"Alright," Duo answered. "But he started it," he mumbled.  
  
Lita looked at him, giving him one of those don't-press-your-luck type of looks. It didn't take but a few seconds for Duo to realize he might be in trouble, and he took off running for the car.  
  
If Lita thought the last week had been long, the next would prove to be just as long.if not longer. The start of school on Monday meant the continuation of the war between her and Relena.  
  
Catching sight of Relena on the way into the building, she became so absorbed in keeping an eye on Relena to make sure that she didn't pull anything that Lita didn't notice the strategically placed banana peels on a newly waxed floor. Of course, she went sliding head long into a wall.  
  
Tuesday Lita brought in water balloons full of paint and dropped them on Relena's head from a second story window as she entered the building. So Relena decided to retaliate by getting rid of the chair Lita had been sitting in. The idea was she'd have to stand for the rest day. So when lunch came and everyone had left, Relena had one of the janitors come and remove the chair. Smiling evilly to herself, Relena waited for everyone to file in.  
  
"Please take your seats," Relena said, raping on her desk.  
  
Everyone sat down.well, everyone who could. "Excuse me Miss Kino.but I thought I asked everyone to sit down?"  
  
"I would if I had a chair," Lita responded.  
  
"Oh well.I guess you'll just have to stand," Relena said smugly as she turned to the board to start the lesson.  
  
Just then, somebody slipped a piece of paper into Lita's hand. She quickly scanned it, and looked at the person who's handwriting was on it. The expression on her face seemed to say are you sure about this? She received a slight nod, and shrugging her shoulders she complied with the invitation.  
  
The next time Relena turned around, her jaw was hanging open so far you could probably have stuffed 5 Scooby sized sandwiches in it.with room left over. "What.what is this??" she yelled, pointing toward Lita with the piece of chalk in her hands.  
  
"What do you mean 'what is this'? I'm sitting.just like you asked."  
  
"But sitting on what? That's not a chair!"  
  
"Oh, you're observant. No, it isn't a chair.but I believe the word you used was seat and this is my seat."  
  
"Since when did Heero Yuy's knees become your seat??"  
  
"Since he said so." Lita held up the tiny piece of paper between her first two fingers. "Want to read it?"  
  
"No.no I do not want to read it!"  
  
"Suit yourself," Lita said, smiling quite innocently, crossing her left leg over her right and setting her notebook down on her left knee. By this time, Relena's face was bright red.and if you looked hard enough you could see the steam come out of her ears.  
  
Later that night, when it was just the 5 pilots, Duo asked the question that was on everybody's mind. "Heero.WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"  
  
"Or was he even thinking?" Wufei retorted.  
  
Heero glared. "I did it because I could. Do I always need to justify what I do with you? Last time I checked, you weren't my legal guardian." After another round of glares warning everyone to keep their questions to themselves, he went to his own room.  
  
Quatre frowned. "I wonder why Heero's been acting so strangely lately."  
  
"That's easy," Wufei said. "Having that onna in the house has made him lose his ability to be rational and sane."  
  
Trowa considered that for a moment. "If you believe what Wufei says, then the only conclusion one can draw from the evidence is that Heero has feelings for 'that onna'."  
  
"NO WAY!" Duo exclaimed.  
  
Trowa shrugged. "Stranger things have happened."  
  
And they did.the very next day. As Lita walked into the building, Relena looked down from her second story window and poured out the sticky contents of a huge plastic bucket. The shower of honey was followed by a blizzard of prepackaged salad.lettuce, carrot shavings, the works.  
  
Seething, Lita promptly turned and headed back toward the Winner mansion. "I'll be in later," she said, waiving as she left. A couple hours and several washings later, she returned. She stopped at Relena's desk, holding a ribbon wrapped canister in her hands.a small something she had found lying around in a cabinet. "I'm sorry I'm late Miss Relena," Lita said in a very sugary voice. "But I had an accident on the way here and felt it would be better if I came after I got things straightened out. Really though.I think our little war has gotten out of hand and so I'd like to end it now with this." She held out the canister, labeled Gourmet Almonds. "I heard these were your favorites."  
  
"Why yes. How nice of you," Relena said, taking the canister. I won she smirked to herself. I won, I won.laughing inside she untied the ribbon. "I do hate to leave packages unopened you know." Laying the ribbon down, she opened the lid only to have those beautiful trick snakes come springing out. "ARGH!" she screeched, stumbling backwards into her chair.which promptly fell onto it's back causing Relena to tumbled over backwards onto the floor in a most undignified manner. She righted herself and dusted off her skirt amidst the gales of laughter, seemingly unaffected. Just you wait Lita.she said to herself.just you wait.  
  
Thursday wasn't quite as bad. The only attack was made from Lita. She went around posting flyers that had Relena's head grafted onto a giant gorilla. The caption underneath read 'The Origin of Dumb Blondes'.  
  
It was Friday that became the day of infamy.pardon the expression. Relena bided her time until lunch. This particular day they were having lunch served at the school for a change (in celebration of something stupid like Pacifist Founder's Day). It was buffet style, so everyone went through a line to get their food. Relena made sure to wedge herself behind Lita.and in front of Heero.  
  
Miss Peacecraft pulled out her fork and was all but prepared for a rear attack when Lita suddenly looked down and said in a loud whisper, "I think a cockroach just crossed over your foot."  
  
Squealing in disgust, Relena flung her hands up in the air, forgetting she had a tray in her hand. It wasn't until she heard the clatter the she realized what she'd done. She turned around to face one Heero Yuy with a glob of mashed potatoes on his head.plus gravy.  
  
"OH MY GOD! Heero I'm so sorry!" She grabbed some napkins from a nearby table and attempted to make things right.  
  
"I don't want your help," he growled, pushing her away...right into a conveniently placed trash can. She tripped over it, knocking it over and causing the contents to spill out around her.  
  
That's it...no more Miss Niceguy, Relena though bitterly. I'll make her pay for causing me this kind of humiliation.dumping food on my beloved Heero.. She began plotting her revenge.  
  
A little later that afternoon, as everyone was heading down the main hall toward the front entrance, Lita suddenly realized that one of her rose earrings had fallen out. "You guys go on ahead; I'll be back in a minute. I need to get something." Lita headed back down the hall the way she had come, looking around for it.  
  
"What're you looking for Miss Kino?" Relena asked.  
  
"One of my earrings came out," she answered.  
  
"Oh.you mean this one?" Relena said, pointing with her toe to a tiny pink rose lying on the floor in front of her.  
  
"Yeah, that's it. Thanks.." Her voice trailed off as she watched Relena step on it and grind it into the floor with the heel of her shoe.  
  
"My pleasure," Relena replied, removing her foot and walking away.  
  
"You.you.how could you?" Lita yelled after her. "My mother gave me those!"  
  
"Then ask her to buy you some new ones," Relena called over her shoulder.  
  
"My mother is dead.." She sank down to the floor, sifting through the remains with tear dampened eyes. 


	8. A Reluctant Rescuer

I still don't own anything, but I'm sure you already know that by now.  
  
Well, it seems all of you now thoroughly hate Relena. Mission accomplished! coughs Gomen minna.just had to get that out of my system. Anyhow, you will be pleased to know that Relena will eventually get a big, fat punishment. Also, as I've said, the inners will make an appearance, but not for a few more chapters. Sorry if you're unhappy with that, but this is meant to be a Lita/Mako centered fic. The thought has also crossed my mind of possibly doing a sequel to this story once I finish. In such event that takes place, pairing up scouts and pilots will be rather hard to do. Also, if one should be written, Relena will not be an included character, but Zechs would be. Just something for you all to think about.  
  
Now enough rambling from me. Enjoy!  
  
Quatre paced nervously across the living room. "It's been a week now. A whole week and as far we know Lita still hasn't come out of her room." He stopped and turned to the rest of the pilots, who were scattered in various seats around the rooms. "I was concerned before.but now I'm down right worried."  
  
"I don't see what the problem is," Wufei said. "Making all this fuss over a stupid earring. Only an onna would do something like this."  
  
"That isn't nice Wufei."  
  
"Humph," he answered in response.  
  
"I know what Relena did upset her, but she really needs to get out. Staying in there is only making things worse," Duo said, motioning toward the kitchen. "I think Heero should ask her to that party Saturday night."  
  
"What are you talking about Duo?" said person asked.  
  
"Relena's birthday party."  
  
"I told you already.I'm not going."  
  
"And I told you that you don't have a choice. We all have to go because we have a standing mission to play bodyguard."  
  
"And I told you that I don't give a damn what the circumstance is. I'm not going and I'm certainly not asking anyone else to go either. So just leave me alone."  
  
"Aww.Heero come on."  
  
"No."  
  
"At least talk to her then," Quatre pleaded. "We've all tried to. Well.Wufei actually yelled insults instead of trying to talk.but that's beside the point. She hasn't listened to any of us. Maybe you could get through to her."  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Yuy.if you do not go and talk to her, I will call that weak onna Relena and tell her that you've had a change of heart and have suddenly realized how much you care."  
  
Heero glared. "You wouldn't dare."  
  
"Try me." Wufei reached over and lifted up the receiver of the phone sitting on the table next to him.  
  
"Fine," Heero grumbled. "But I do this under protest."  
  
Quatre smiled. "Thank you Heero."  
  
"Hn," he said scowling as he stood and exited in the direction of the kitchen.  
  
"And where do you think you're going Duo?" Quatre asked, watching the braided pilot sneaking out behind Heero.  
  
"Just going to.um."  
  
"Spy," Quatre finished. "You come back here right now and sit down. I'm beginning to think that part of the problem before was that all of us were standing around the door listening to what the speaker was saying. I'm sure she could hear all the noise we were making and I bet that only upset her more. Also, Heero seemed rather agitated. I'd rather not make him any grumpier, so we're going to make it easy on everybody and just go out.all of us."  
  
"Out where?" Duo asked.  
  
Quatre though for a moment, before getting everybody rounded up and herding them out to the car. "Well?"  
  
"We're going bowling."  
  
"BOWLING??" Wufei shrieked. "That is a weak game and I will." His voice trailed off as he saw the glare on Quatre's face. "I will force myself to have a good time.."  
  
Meanwhile, back inside the house, Heero had been standing outside the door to Lita's room, trying to figure out something appropriate to say. But so far nothing had come out sounding right and as uncomfortable as he was being put in this position he knew that even if he said the right words they would have a harsh edge to them. Guess I'll just have to get this over with he muttered to himself, preparing to knock. Just as he was about to announce his arrival, the door swung open and he saw his first glimpse of her in a week.  
  
She was in pretty bad shape to be quite frank. Her hair was messy, like she'd just woken up from a nap. Her clothes were wrinkled and her eyes were tinged red from crying, looking rather tired as well. "I was wondering when you would show up."  
  
Heero raised an eyebrow. "And just what does that mean?"  
  
"It means that everyone else has been here trying to give me a pep talk. I wondered how long it would be before they forced you to give me one too."  
  
"I don't give pep talks. I'm only talking to you because Quatre asked me too."  
  
"And I'm only talking to you because if I don't the whole cycle will start over again and I'd rather not listen to anymore of Duo's bad knock knock jokes."  
  
"It's as good a reason as any."  
  
She shrugged. "Yeah, I guess." There was a slight pause. "Well?"  
  
"Well what?"  
  
"If you're going to talk, then start talking."  
  
He just looked at her.  
  
"What are you waiting for, an invitation?" she asked.  
  
"Actually yes. Regardless of what you think, I don't just go barging into people's rooms."  
  
"Oh, well then by all means please come in," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. Lita stepped aside and let Heero in, shutting the door behind him. "Now can you talk?"  
  
He shrugged. "I can talk. I'm not sure it will do any good though."  
  
"Just what are you implying?"  
  
"All I'm saying is that probably nothing I say will do any good. Hell, you may not even listen to me at all. You haven't listened to anything anybody else has said so why should I be any different?"  
  
"You of all people should understand Heero. You know what those earrings meant to me. Relena crushed one and then a day later I wake up and the other one is missing! Those were the only links I had to my parents and they're gone. What do you expect me to do.smile and say 'shit happens'?"  
  
"No. But I think it is going a little far."  
  
"What would you know about it? Have you ever lost anything that meant the world to you?"  
  
He looked at her and said point blank, "I've never had anything like that to lose."  
  
"See? I was right.you don't understand."  
  
"No, it's you that doesn't understand. So you lost a pair of earrings.they were only physical links. Things like that don't last forever. But memories do.and you do have memories of your parents don't you?"  
  
"Some, yes. But things like that pair of earrings can help you remember things."  
  
"I believe that if it's something you really want to remember, you can never forget it. Those earrings weren't the root of your link to your parents.it was that," he said, pointing to her heart. "Relena may have crushed the rose, but did she break your heart?"  
  
Lita was silent. She hated to admit it, but what he was saying did make sense.  
  
"Put yourself in my shoes," he continued. "At least you have memories of your parents; you know who you are and where you come from. For all I know, I never had parents. My earliest memories are of being trained to be a soldier, trained to lead the life I live I now. I have no knowledge of my background at all. In fact, Heero Yuy isn't even my real name."  
  
"Then what is it?"  
  
He shrugged. "I don't know." He promptly clamed up, slightly angry with himself for having even given out that little information about himself. "Just be glad you have something you can call a past," Heero said acidly before opening the door and exiting the room, slamming the door behind him.  
  
Lita blinked, staring at the back of her door. For the first time she felt that somebody had a better handle on things then she did. She laughed softly, something she hadn't done since the week before. I guess I owe him an apology.and everyone else one for that matter. She went over to her mirror, hoping to do a little repair job before she went out to face everybody. "OH MY GOD!" she cried out, looking at her reflection. "I look worse then the bride of Frankenstein!" She crashed around her room grabbing this and that and dashed off to the shower, then dashed back to her room and tried to make herself look presentable. She finished and made her way into the living room just in time to see the other four pilots coming in. In the lead was Wufei, who was dancing around singing "I got a turkey, I got a turkey" over and over.  
  
Just as she was about to ask what Wufei had been smoking and why they'd let him smoke it in the first place, Duo spotted her. "Hey Lita! Long time, no see." Then he scanned the room, spotting Heero sitting in a chair with his laptop. "Say Heero, did you ask her?"  
  
"Ask me what?"  
  
Heero scowled. "No, I didn't. And you just had to go bring it up didn't you big mouth?"  
  
"Ask me what?" Lita repeated.  
  
"Come on Heero, ask her," Duo said.  
  
Heero turned himself around in the chair so he was facing the opposite direction. "No."  
  
Lita walked around in front of Heero and stuck her face right in front of his. "If I apologize, can I find out what this question is?"  
  
"Um.I guess so," he stuttered.  
  
"Good," she said, straightening up. "I wanted to apologize to all of you. I haven't been the best.company the last week.you were just trying to help and I kind blew you all off. I especially want to apologize to you Heero. I mean, you were right and I guess I knew that. I was just too upset to think straight. I'm not used to losing control like that, or needing help to get control back. Well, that and I've never been in an environment like this.I mean, all my other friends in Juuban.they all have families or relatives. I've never lived with other people like me and well. I wrongly assumed that none of you would understand what I was going through. Boy, I'll never make that mistake again," she said, clearing her throat. "Anyway.now that I've apologized.what's this question you're supposed to ask me Heero?"  
  
He shot a glare at Duo, before answering.but not before his ears turned pink in embarrassment. "We have to go to Relena's birthday party tomorrow night and he told me I should ask you to come."  
  
"With you?"  
  
"With us."  
  
She frowned, her arms crossed over her chest. "I don't know.I don't really want be around Relena if I can help it."  
  
"Oh, come on," Duo said, trying the sad puppy face. "It'll be a lot more fun if you come. Besides, you haven't been out of the house for a week and with you around Relena will be too distracted with you she won't bother poor Heero."  
  
"I'm not going to just play diversion for 'poor Heero'."  
  
"Then go for me," Quatre said. "I think you should take an evening off, even if it is to go to Relena's party. But all of us will be there, not really of our own choosing either."  
  
She frowned again, and then nodded. "Alright. I don't want to see her or have anything to do with her.but I'm done trying to hide to protect myself from her. I'm not a coward and if you all can go there against your will, the least I can do is go by choice. You do realize though that I don't have a proper dress for this.party."  
  
Quatre smiled. "Oh don't worry about that. Everything will be taken care of."  
  
"I'm not sure I like the sound of that," Lita said. "Oh well. now that that's settled, will somebody please tell me where this turkey is that Wufei got?"  
  
"Oh that," Duo laughed. "Quatre made us go bowling. That's where Wufei got the turkey." (A.N. For those that don't know, a turkey in bowling is three strikes in a row.)  
  
"Oh.that kind of turkey. That still doesn't explain his weird dancing and singing."  
  
"Well, no." Duo said.  
  
She laughed. "I don't suppose it really matters anyway."  
  
"No it doesn't onna," Wufei said.  
  
"Ok, ok.geez. Well, I think I'll go to bed now so I avoid getting into more trouble." Saying her goodnights to everyone, she retired to her room. She didn't get much sleep though.she was too busy wondering what Quatre had mean by everything being taken care of. The next day wasn't much better. All day long her thoughts drifted around, wondering.  
  
At long last, a couple hours before they were supposed to leave, she opened her bedroom door to find Quatre there, standing with some boxes in his arms. "Yes?"  
  
"These are yours," he said, handing the boxes to her. "I had them sent here from one of the stores in town. They should be the right size.I hope.."  
  
Seeing how nervous he was, Lita offered him a smile. "I'm sure they'll be fine. But you didn't have to do this you know."  
  
"I know I didn't.I wanted too." Smiling, he took his leave and left her to go about getting ready. She is a lady after all, and we all know they need lots of time to get ready.  
  
A few minutes before departure time, the pilots were assembled in the living room. They all looked pretty much the same. Each had on a black suit, a white shirt, and a tie. Heero's was dark green, Duo's dark red, Wufei's black, Quatre's light blue, and Trowa's silver. "How much long do we have to wait?" Wufei complained.  
  
"She should be out any time now," Quatre said, trying to calm down the slightly irate young man.  
  
In the meantime, Trowa was standing around with a blank expression his face, Duo was checking to make sure everything was as it should be as far as his appearance was concerned, and Heero.well Heero was leaning against the back of the couch. His hands were shoved in his pants pockets, fingering three small boxes that the right pocket held. He was just about to go nuts with anxiousness when a voice interrupted his jumbled thoughts.  
  
"Sorry I kept you all waiting." Lita now stood in the living room, wearing a white Chinese style dress with green trimming and a slit to the knee and a pair of strappy white sandals. The dress was embroidered with little brightly colored dragons. "So.do I pass inspection?" she asked teasingly.  
  
Quatre smiled his approval.  
  
"You look very nice," Trowa said, while Wufei just grunted.  
  
"I'll take that as a yes." she laughed.  
  
"I'll say!" Duo exclaimed. "You look great!"  
  
"Well.what about you Heero? What's your opinion?" Lita asked.  
  
He opened his mouth, but when he did the only thing he could get out was "Hn."  
  
"I'm guessing that's supposed to be a yes too."  
  
Turning away, Heero silently cursed himself, his fingers tightening over the small boxes in his pocket. 


	9. Heart Under Wraps

Well.another chapter and another disclaimer. I don't know any of the characters that follow. The plot is mine, Wufei's turkey dance is mine, and Relena's future death sort of belongs to me.not like she hasn't been killed before, but maybe not quite in the fashion in which it will happen. (This should make those of you who want to see Relena die quite happy.for so it has been said and so it shall be done!)  
  
Really no notes this time. But if you're just dying to see the inners, they will be making their appearance. I'm not sure what chapter it will be, but they'll have to show up because (not to spoil anything) Lita will be returning to Juuban. Shocked? Dismayed? Well, it will all work out, I promise. Author's honor.  
  
*~Word for the Day!~* At the end of this chapter, Heero uses the word maihime. It translates as dancing girl.that might make more sense after having read the chapter. Now you know. ^_^  
  
Enjoy!  
  
A whole hour had passed since they first arrived at the party.60 minutes went by and nobody was really doing anything to speak of. They were mostly just sitting around a table watching everybody else. Well, except Wufei that is. He, finding that watching other people dance was a weak form of entertainment, was going around to everybody he saw and telling them quite proudly that he'd gotten a turkey. Though he'd never show it outwardly, he was more then amused at seeing the odd looks people got on their faces when he told them that.  
  
Suddenly, it seemed as if everybody just magically came to life.excluding the already animated Wufei and his turkey tales. Quatre and Trowa left to warm up.they would be playing a duet together for the dance. Duo went to go find himself a girl to dance with. That left just Heero and Lita sitting across each from each other at the table.  
  
"Boy.it was nice of everybody to just leave all at once," she commented.  
  
"I guess."  
  
An uncomfortable silence followed. Neither one knew what to do or say. Heero wasn't in the best of moods to begin with, but it was only made worse by the fact that he couldn't seem to form any coherent thoughts. No matter what he tried to think of, it didn't seem to stay very long in its original form.  
  
For her part, Lita had started to get.well, lovesick. Watching all the couples dancing across the floor had stirred up old memories of a time when she had been a part of that world. She could feel herself overcome by that intense longing she always seemed to get in situations like this. All of a sudden, she realized that Heero was staring at her. Blushing, she stumbled up out of her chair, made her excuses and hastily disappeared into the crowd.  
  
She made her way to a set of French doors that opened out onto a modest sized landing from which two stair cases originated, one on each side, rising up from a garden below to the landing. God.I hope it didn't show she thought to herself, leaning on the landing's railing. But wait.why does it matter if it showed or not? He probably wouldn't understand anyway. Then why am I getting so worked up about this? She was startled out of her jumbled thoughts by a familiar voice.  
  
"You want to dance don't you." The strains of Quatre and Trowa's duet floated out into the night.  
  
"What makes you think that?" she asked, her back still to him.  
  
"I know what I saw. Quatre wanted you to enjoy yourself if you could and if you want to dance then it's my duty to see that it's done.as nobody else is around to do it."  
  
She sighed. "Thanks for the gesture, but a dance is supposed to be enjoyable. You won't have any fun if you feel forced into it and I won't have any either because it's my fault you feel you have to do it anyway." She turned around to face him.  
  
Heero shrugged. "Suit yourself." He stood for a moment, then abruptly withdrew a hand from his pocket, holding out two of the small boxes that had been inside. "Here. It's from all of us.Quatre's idea.." He shoved the boxes into her hand and promptly withdrew to a part of the landing not illuminated by the summer's eve moon.  
  
Curious, she opened the lid of the first to find a pair of earrings identical to the ruined pair. She then opened the lid of the second and inside that box rested a necklace with a matching rose on it. "How.where.." She was totally speechless.  
  
"Told you it was Quatre's idea. Slipped into your room and took your good earring, then took it to a jeweler and had a pair made identical. I know it can't replace the sentiment in the one's you lost, but.anyway, your missing earring is what the necklace is made from. He figured that if you couldn't wear the original as an earring anymore, at least this way you could wear it."  
  
She snapped the lids on the boxes shut. "Heero, nobody's ever given me anything like this before. You guys went to a lot of trouble to do t his for me, and well.I just don't think I can say thank you enough," Lita said with a smile. She re-opened the lids, taking a little closer look at them. Then she carefully snapped the lids shut, clasping them to her. Turning to go in, she was surprised to see that Heero had moved from his place in the shadows and stood in the dim light. "What are you still doing here?"  
  
"Why does it matter?"  
  
"Well, I don't suppose it really does.but you didn't seem like you really wanted to be out here at all."  
  
Heero shrugged. "Maybe I don't want to be here. But right now this is where I need to be." He took a step towards her.  
  
"Why?" She could feel a slight increase in the beat of her heart. She was nervous, but yet she didn't step away from him.  
  
"Because I need to know something about myself. And about you." As nervous as he had been earlier, as tense as he had been knowing what was in that third box, there was no trace of either now. He was dead serious as he took another couple of slow steps in her direction. He stopped when he was right in front of her.  
  
"What.what could you possibly not know about yourself that you have to be here to find out?"  
  
"I won't know until I've done it."  
  
"Done what?"  
  
There was no answer. And there wouldn't be one either because no sooner had the question left her lips then they were brushed with the magic that comes only with a first kiss.  
  
As the last strains of Quatre's violin drifted outside, the kiss came to an end as the pair slowly separated from each other.  
  
Lita's face now had a definite rose tinge to it. "Did.did you find out what you n..needed?" she stammered.  
  
Heero's fingers tightened one the lone box left in his pocket. "Without a doubt." That said, he abruptly turned and pushed back through the doors, getting lost amongst the groups of people scattered throughout.  
  
Lita, still dazed from what had just happened, sort of floated back into the party as well.only to have Relena waiting for her.  
  
"I just saw Heero come in from that way.and now here you are coming in from that some way. What have you been up too?"  
  
"Huh?" Lita blinked, coming back to her senses. "What I was doing outside is none of your business really."  
  
"Oh I think it is," Relena replied, grabbing the boxes out of her hand. "Let me just see what this is."  
  
"Don't you dare," Lita said angrily, yanking the boxes back. "Those were a present from a friend and I won't let you ruin this."  
  
"Friend hmm? More likely you stole didn't you? Just like you've been trying to steal my Heero you bitch!" With that, Relena reached out and slapped Lita across the cheek, leaving a red hand print behind.  
  
Seething, Lita was all set to take care of business right then and there.that is until something stopped her. A something known as Heero Yuy.  
  
"I thought I told you not to interfere," he said bluntly.  
  
"I didn't interfere," Relena said defensively. "I was merely putting her in her place. She's a thief Heero and it's about time you realized that."  
  
"She already has a place with us. And everything she has she's gotten honestly. But that's not really important now is it? I warned you what would happen if you pulled something like this. As of right now, our mission here is over."  
  
"HEERO! You can't do that!!"  
  
"I can do whatever the hell I damn well want too. And I want to end this mission and so I'm doing it. Any questions?"  
  
"The other's won't let you back out like this."  
  
"Oh won't we Relena?" Duo said, taking his place next to Heero. "You see, Lita's our friend and well.you've made things difficult for her so now we're going to make things difficult for you."  
  
"I'm sorry Miss Relena, but you aren't quite the person we thought you were," Quatre added, Trowa nodding in silent agreement as the two joined Duo and Heero.  
  
"Stupid onna. Now we will see how strong you are when you have to stand on your own. I bet you don't last a week," Wufei spat, taking his place in line.  
  
"All of you are against me?"  
  
"All of us," the five said in unison.  
  
"Well," she said haughtily. "I guess there isn't anything left to say."  
  
"Oh but there is," Lita said, pushing through the pilots. "For a pacifist, you don't hesitate to put up a fight.hypocrite. The only thing you're worth being a role model for is Liars Anonymous. I pray that nobody is afflicted with the poison you spread. The world doesn't need another princess in your image. But maybe we got lucky.I mean, your face probably cracked the mold you were made from." A slight smirk on her face, Lita turned and made her way to the exit and out to the car followed by the troupe of pilots.  
  
Later that night, or more exactly very early Sunday morning, everybody had gone their separate ways for the night and gone to bed. Well, almost everyone. Two people were still wide awake. One of them was Heero.  
  
Heero sat at his desk, laptop turned on, staring blankly at the screen. He'd just sent the e-mail to the scientists telling them they had decided to end the mission to protect Relena. Now that he didn't have anything to keep him busy, he didn't know what to do. He was saved from his descent into insanity by a knock at the door. He got up, tugging on the already loosened tie around his neck. Heero opened the door, to see Lita, still in her dress and missing her shoes, standing there. "What do you want?"  
  
"We need to talk Heero."  
  
"What is there to talk about?"  
  
"You know.what happened tonight?"  
  
He didn't answer, merely stepped aside and let her in, shutting the door behind her.  
  
She was the first one to speak. "I want to know.I want to know what happened tonight, between the two of us."  
  
Heero raised an eyebrow. "Isn't it obvious?"  
  
"I didn't mean physically." she said. "I do know what that was."  
  
"What else is there to know?"  
  
"Everything!" Lita waved her hands around. "I'm so confused.I don't understand. Those earrings, the necklace.I went to go thank Quatre when we got home. He didn't know anything about it and neither did anyone else and I know they aren't just saying that to tease either. You did that all on your own.why?"  
  
"Does it matter why?"  
  
"Well, I would like to know. I mean.no offense to you.but you just don't seem like the type to go around handing out presents. Especially to girls."  
  
"So I did something different." Heero shrugged. "I've done a lot of things that are not typical of me in the last several weeks."  
  
"But why? Why couldn't you just tell me it was you?"  
  
"And have you laugh in my face? No."  
  
"I wouldn't have laughed at you. Have I ever laughed at you? Well, ok.maybe that one time when you were learning how to make bread.but that's an exception. That wasn't a serious conversation."  
  
"You told Relena they were from a friend."  
  
Lita frowned, wondering about the sudden topic change. "Yeah, so.you are my friend aren't you?"  
  
"Is that all?"  
  
She blushed. "Well.I.." She stammered, not quite sure what to say.  
  
"You don't know how hard I tried to hate you.how many times I kicked myself after talking to you. You always seemed to be able to get me to say things that I would never tell to anybody ask.without trying. It irritated me.but what irritated me more was the confusion of having this unexplained feeling. I tried to picture my life free of your presence to see if that alleviated the chaos.and it did. But with the absence of that feeling, there was only the emptiness I had before.and somehow that emptiness just doesn't seem like enough anymore. "I can't even honestly go by the title 'Perfect Soldier' now.because for the first this week I realized that I don't really know everything. I told you that you didn't understand.but neither did I. Once I had those earrings in my possession.all they did was remind me of you. That's why I had to find out just what it was that haunted me. Now I know.but what I need to know now is whether you feel the same?"  
  
Lita stood dumbfounded. She hadn't quite expected this.just a simple explanation. Instead, she'd listened to as near an "I love you" as Heero could get. Even more surprising to her, was the realization that she did indeed share his feelings. "You know," she said softly, "we never did get that dance."  
  
"No we didn't." He held out his hand to her. "But we can get it now."  
  
She accepted the offered hand, and though there was no music, they danced. Just the two of them alone in a world that was closed off to everyone else. But all too soon, the moment was interrupted by a tiny yawn. Embarrassed, Lita looked apologetic.  
  
"Tired?" Heero asked.  
  
She nodded.  
  
"Then you should get some sleep."  
  
"Yeah.guess I'll just see myself down to my room." She disentangled herself from his arms and headed for the door. As she put her hand on the knob, he put his hand on top of hers. "I finally found something that means the world to me and I don't intend to find out what happens if I lose it."  
  
Blushing at this recently discovered side of Heero, she quickly opened the door and slipped out into the hall. "Good night Heero."  
  
"Good night maihime." 


	10. Everything's Back to Normal...Or Is It?

Here it is.yet another chapter and I still don't own any of these characters.  
  
Well.I have to ask. I've come up with an idea for a sequel to this story involving, among other things, Zechs looking for the person who killed his sister.oops, a give a way. Yes, I admit to it! There will come a chapter will Relena will suffer the ultimate punishment! crowds cheer You just don't know how she's going to die.hehe. But I felt it only fair to warn you ahead of time of the impending death in case that bothers you, though most of my wonderful reviewers seem to want her erased from existence so it shouldn't matter anyway. *_*;  
  
I'm sorry it's taken a bit longer to get this chapter out. My last few days of work have been really busy and now I'm getting ready to go back to school, so I haven't had the kind of time to write that I'd like. Thanks for being patient.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
Sunday passed with little notice, and so Monday came once again. Lita rolled over, just happening to glance at the alarm clock on the little table next to her bed. "Oh my god! I'm gonna be late!" She jumped out of bed and scrambled around, throwing some clothes on. She threw open the door and rushed out into the kitchen only to trip over her feet and land splat on the floor. Lita quickly stood and dusted herself off and dashed out of the kitchen. She stopped short upon seeing that Heero, and only Heero, was seated on the couch with his laptop. "Hey! Where is everybody? We're gonna be late for school."  
  
"No we aren't."  
  
"We aren't? But isn't it Monday?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well?"  
  
"We're not going. We canceled our mission. Therefore there is no longer any reason to go to there."  
  
Lita thought for a moment. "Oh.well, that does make sense. At least I don't have to put up with all that pacifist junk anymore." She walked around and plopped down on the couch next to Heero. "So.where's everybody else?"  
  
"Out."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Could you be anymore friendly this morning?"  
  
"Probably. But why bother?"  
  
"That sounds like something you'd say."  
  
"I like to be consistent," he answered with a small smirk, causing her to laugh.  
  
"You said the others went out. Exactly where is out?" Lita asked.  
  
"Shopping."  
  
"SHOPPING?"  
  
"Duo's idea."  
  
"And Wufei went along with this because.?"  
  
"Because Duo promised him a special T-shirt if he went."  
  
"Wufei went shopping just to get a stupid T-shirt? I don't think I'll ever understand you guys."  
  
Heero shrugged. "I don't think we understand each other either."  
  
"So tell me now why Duo felt the need to go shopping."  
  
"He always goes shopping when we go to Outer Space."  
  
"OUTER SPACE? You guys are going into space and leaving me behind? Thanks for telling me in advance!"  
  
"You can stop yelling now. Outer Space is the name of Duo's favorite club. He whined around to Quatre that Saturday didn't count as going out so Quatre caved and agreed to drag the rest of us out to the club."  
  
"Umm.you guys go to clubs frequently?"  
  
Heero shrugged again. "Good place to pick up information. Amazing what people will say after a few rounds."  
  
"Well, yeah. I guess so."  
  
"Don't you ever go?"  
  
"Um.I don't spy on people. Besides, the ones for people my age are all.well.."  
  
"Abnormal."  
  
"You could say that. But wait.if Duo's buying new clothes.are the others?"  
  
Heero nodded.  
  
"Then.why didn't you go shopping with them?"  
  
"I don't like clothes shopping. Besides.all those club-style clothes look the same so it doesn't matter what Duo brings back, it'll still be.atrocious."  
  
"You'd actually let Duo pick out your clothes?"  
  
"I told you, they're all the same. Besides it's only fair since Quatre's picking out yours." Heero suddenly frowned at the laptop's screen in front of him.  
  
"Mine.?" Lita didn't notice the change in his expression, being preoccupied with thoughts of what her outfit might look like.  
  
Just then, a young man in a black T-shirt and blue jeans came into the room. His hair was pulled back into its usual ponytail, and he was trying not to grin.a vain attempt I might add. "Read my shirt," he said proudly.  
  
"Um.ok," Lita said. She got up and walked over in front of him, reading the printing. "I went out Saturday night.." At this point, Wufei turned around so she could read the writing on the back. "And all I got was this lousy turkey." The shirt even came complete with its own picture of a turkey.  
  
"I think Wufei has an unhealthy obsession," Trowa noted, as he entered the room followed by Duo and Quatre, all carrying bags.  
  
"I'll agree to that," Lita said.  
  
Duo then proceeded to shove a bag at Heero, while Quatre passed one to Lita. "Twenty-two hundred hours," Duo said.  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"He means 10 o'clock Lita," Quatre clarified.  
  
"Oh.guess the good stuff doesn't happen 'til late at night huh?"  
  
Duo grinned. "Damn right it doesn't."  
  
Heero shut down the laptop, standing up abruptly. "I need to see you upstairs.now."  
  
"Heero," Duo whined. "You haven't even seen the clothes yet!"  
  
Heero glared. "NOW."  
  
"Y.yes sir!" Duo saluted and scrambled for the stairs, the others following along at a more reasonable pace.  
  
Standing with her bag in her hand, Lita frowned. "Heero.is something wrong?"  
  
"Nothing that concerns you." Yet, he said to himself as he went upstairs.  
  
Shrugging it off, Lita went back to her room to get a little more "beauty sleep" before getting ready for the all night party.  
  
Meanwhile, upstairs in the library, Heero had called to order a meeting of his fellow pilots. "I got mail today.a warning."  
  
"Warning?" Quatre asked.  
  
Heero nodded. "Rumors of an anti-pacifist faction that is slowly turning into an army bent on destroying pacifism's roots."  
  
Duo whistled. "That's pretty serious."  
  
Heero nodded. "And if we're going to get any information, Outer Space will be the place to do it.reluctant as I am to admit it. Seems to be popular with the rebel type and the OZ soldiers."  
  
"Heero.what happens if we do find out conformation?"  
  
"Number one rule Quatre.never trust anybody. A man can appear drunk but be perfectly sober. Anything they tell us could be a lie to through us off."  
  
Duo rolled his eyes. "Like they'd know who we are anyway."  
  
"Maxwell.you are so stupid it is unjust. Anybody connected with OZ will know who we are."  
  
"Oh.yeah.right.I knew that!"  
  
"Anyway," Heero continued. "You know what happens if this goes full-scale."  
  
Everyone nodded.  
  
"Good. Remember.not a word of this conversation leaves this room."  
  
The group filed out of the room and went their separate ways. At precisely 10 that night, the quiet of the afternoon was shattered.  
  
"WHERE ARE YOU GUYS??"  
  
"SHUT UP MAXWELL!" Wufei yelled back, tromping down the stairs. "We aren't deaf."  
  
Duo, standing at the bottom of the stairs, pouted. "Aww.man you're no fun Wu-man."  
  
"INJUSTICE! That is not my name.It is Chang Wufei. But you can call me Turkey."  
  
Trowa came out of the kitchen, followed by Quatre just in time to hear. "I told you he had an unhealthy obsession Quatre.but no. You told me it was just a phase he was going through."  
  
"I'm beginning to think you're having an unhealthy obsession with Wufei's turkey obsession."  
  
"Cut it out," Heero said, coming down the stairs. "I'm not in the mood to go out anyway, so don't push it. And if anybody has an unhealthy obsession, it's Duo and his obsession with torture."  
  
"Aww.geez Heero, the clothes aren't that bad." Duo surveyed the group. All five were dressed similarly; black pants and shoes and short sleeved shirts made of some shiny material. All a bit on the snug side I might add.  
  
Heero looked down at his own green shirt. "Well, at least it doesn't have flames on it this time."  
  
"There was nothing wrong with those shirts!"  
  
"I think Maxwell is obsessed with shopping," Wufei said.  
  
"Better then being obsessed with turkeys," Duo retorted.  
  
"I think all of you are obsessed with obsessing!" Lita exclaimed, making her voice heard for the first time since she'd slipped into the room. She had on a shiny silver halter top, over which there was a long-sleeved black lace jacket-type shirt that tied in front, reaching almost to the hem of her black mini skirt. Silverish colored hose and black platform sandals finished it off.  
  
Duo turned in her direction, a grin plastered on his face. "I think Quatre did a pretty good job."  
  
She blushed slightly. "Oh cut it out. But seriously, this will make it easier for me to help."  
  
"Help?" Heero asked.  
  
Lita nodded. "You said you go there to pick up information. Let me help you. I'm sure I can find out something you can use."  
  
He frowned. "Absolutely not. You're not getting involved in our work."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because I said so. Do you have a problem with that?"  
  
"Well fine Mr. Friendly.see if I offer to help you again." Arms crossed over her chest, she stuck her tongue out at him. With that, she turned and headed out of the room.  
  
Quatre sighed. "I have a feeling this going to be a long night." 


	11. Rain on Their Parade...and They Don't Ev...

Chapters come and chapters go, but not so ownership of characters. Not now, not ever...they don't belong to me. Neither does the song.that one belongs to Michelle Branch.  
  
A.N.: In case you're wondering, I'll tell you now that Lita has a fake I.D. Just so there's no confusion about how she got into the club, got the liquor, etc. Also, she'll also be called Belle in here as well, meaning Lita and Belle are technically the same person.you'll see.  
  
Somebody send me a mallet so I can whack myself.I'm starting a 3rd story (to be posted later).and I'm already behind on the other one. sweatdrops This can't be healthy.oh well.I never was a health nut. ^_^  
  
Enjoy!  
  
The ride to Outer Space had been silent, and now that they were at the club, they still weren't doing much talking. Once inside the club, they made their way to a table big enough for the 6 of them. They seated themselves, all except Lita. "Since you're going to busy, I'll just go elsewhere." She turned and vanished from sight.  
  
"What's eating her?" Duo asked.  
  
Heero shrugged. "Doesn't matter anyway. We have work to do."  
  
"Work, work.I came to party," Duo said grinning as he left to go find a dance partner.  
  
Wufei scowled. "Maxwell is irresponsible. If we all die, I'm blaming him."  
  
"We aren't going to die," Heero said bluntly. "None of us.."  
  
Quatre, sensing the tension building among the remaining members at the table, quickly spoke up. "Trowa and I will go see if we can't find out anything Heero. I'm sure we can find some people willing to talk who'll let a few things slip."  
  
Heero nodded his approval.  
  
Quatre stood and led Trowa off into the crowd. That left just Wufei and Heero at the table.  
  
"What now Yuy?"  
  
"I'll stay here. You keep on eye on Duo. You know how wasted he can get when we come here.and I don't want him doing the talking. You know what to look for."  
  
Wufei nodded and he too stood, heading up a flight of stairs that led to an overlooking balcony-like area that went all the way around the club. Finding a good viewing area, he leaned against the railing and looked down into the crowd. From here he could see the whole dance floor and most of the rest of the club. It was the perfect observation spot.  
  
Meanwhile, Lita was now sitting at the bar, after a quick trip to the ladies room, consuming her third shot of tequila. Thinks he can tell me what to do.she frowned into her empty shot glass. I'll show him...I'll be the best spy they've ever had. Grinning to herself, she quickly downed another two shots.  
  
From his vantage point, Wufei noticed her rapid intake of alcohol. Usually by now Duo had already hit the bar, but tonight he hadn't been near it once so far. Frowning, Wufei looked around for a way to get Heero's attention. He finally spied a flier lying on the ground. Spotting a pay-phone on the wall in the corner, he used the attached pen to scribble a message on the back of the flier. He folded it up into a good old paper airplane; and with the aim only a gundam pilot could have, he threw it down from the balcony in such a way that it crashed right into Heero's head.  
  
Heero grabbed the plane as it fell toward the table, looking in the direction from which it had come. He unfolded the plane, recognizing the handwriting inside. Heero quickly scanned the message and shot a quick glance over to Lita, frowning. He didn't like its contents at all. "Be advised.the onna is one shot short of a sieve.guessing 5, 6." he read under his breath. "What is she doing?"  
  
Back at the bar, Lita had decided to stop at five for the time being. If she was going to be weaseling information out of people she needed to have her head somewhat clear. Idly tracing the rim of the glass with a silver polished nail, she failed to notice the young man sit down beside her.  
  
His appearance though, didn't go undetected by one Heero Yuy.  
  
"Excuse me miss, but I couldn't help noticing you all alone over here."  
  
Lita turned to the origin of the voice and found a young man, about 20 or so sitting on the stool next to her. He had hair so blonde it was almost white and ocean blue eyes. He appeared to be the well built, sun lover.attested too by his tanned skin. Raising an eyebrow after her initial scan, she looked back to the bottom of her glass.  
  
He leaned over a little closer to her. "Say.you know a pretty girl like you shouldn't be alone in a place like this."  
  
I think I'm going to be sick, she thought, listening to his cheesy pick up lines. But this is my chance to prove myself. "You think you can cure my problem stranger?" she said, smirking slightly.  
  
"I'd like to try if you give me a chance."  
  
"The job's yours then. My name's.Belle Greely." Now that was a stupid name, Lita thought to herself. But I couldn't give him my real one..  
  
"It suits you quite well Miss Greely, or may I call you Belle?"  
  
"You can call me whatever you want," Lita said giggling.  
  
"My name's Zach Ryan. Pleasure to meet you."  
  
"Guess we aren't strangers anymore.."  
  
Zach smiled. "Guess not."  
  
During this whole exchange, Heero had found himself seeing green. He didn't really want to admit to himself that he was jealous, but in fact he was. Deciding that whatever she was doing needed to end now, he stood up and made his way over to the bar. He stopped right behind Lita, tapping her on the shoulder. "Excuse me, but what the hell are you doing?"  
  
"I'm having a private conversation," she said, turning around.  
  
Heero was momentarily startled. The eyes that looked back at him weren't green.they were violet. The roses that should have been there weren't and neither was the rose around her neck. Instead, there was a pair of silver hoop earrings and a thin silver chain with a silver moon shaped charm hanging from it.  
  
"Lita.?"  
  
She frowned. "I'm sorry. You must have me confused with someone else. My name is Belle."  
  
He stared for a minute, puzzled. Then it dawned on him.she was playing out her spy game after all. "Pardon me," Heero said icily, but not before he glared at her. Leaving the two to themselves, he headed toward the flight of stairs to talk to Wufei.  
  
"I'm sorry about the interruption," Belle said.  
  
"No problem," Zach said, smiling. "And to show the proof of my words, let me buy you a drink."  
  
Oh god, Lita said to herself. Not more.I only had the five shots to fit in.you don't sit at a bar and not drink. "Oh that'd be nice," she forced herself to say; and before she could bat an eyelash, there was a bottle of tequila set down in front of her.  
  
"My treat so drink up," Zach said, raising his glass full of beer.  
  
I really am going to be sick, Lita thought to herself. Forcing another smile, she poured and downed her sixth shot.  
  
The next couple of hours passed slowly amidst small talk and alcohol. Zach kept downing the beer and Lita, no longer wanting or willing to drink, was stealthily pouring the tequila out on the floor. She hoped that now he'd had a few rounds he'd loosen up and talk.but things didn't quite end going that way.  
  
"You look like the soldier type," Lita finally said, after the slow hours had passed. "I mean, with looks like that you must be a real killer in a uniform." She was gradually steering the conversation in the direction she wanted it.  
  
Zach laughed a little too loudly, being now a bit impaired. "Yeah.I am a soldier in fact. I'd tell you were I'm stationed, but.it's top secret."  
  
"Oh I wouldn't want you giving away military secrets now."  
  
"I wouldn't mind giving anything to you.but you understand being in public and all. But I could show you." Smirking, he stood up. "How about a tour my beautiful Belle?"  
  
"Now?" Lita did not like where this was going at all. Seeing the base would be great, but somehow she suspected the base wouldn't be the tour she'd be getting.  
  
"Why not? Nothing going on here."  
  
"Some other time maybe.I have to be at work early in the morning."  
  
"Just a few minutes.?" he pleaded, stepping closer and brushing his fingers down the back of her neck.  
  
"No.not just a few minutes. And if you don't take your hands off me I'll make sure you regret it."  
  
"Oh.a sassy one aren't you Belle?"  
  
"I'll damn well be whatever I want."  
  
He laughed. "Jesus Belle, you swear like a soldier. You been with one before?"  
  
"Just what are you implying you bastard?"  
  
"Oh don't be shy sweetheart.a girl like you must have been with a hundred guys."  
  
"Well for your information I haven't been with a soldier. I am one." With that, she took her right arm and buried her elbow in his stomach, causing him to topple over and bring a few stools down on top of him.  
  
Still sitting on her stool, Lita was startled to feel a hand on her elbow. She tried to turn around but the hand tightened. "You and me outside. Now," the voice hissed quietly.  
  
Not daring to defy the authority in the voice, Lita stood and the hand clutching her elbow steered her out of the club into an alley next door. Oh dear god Lita said to herself. I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die..  
  
Abruptly, her guide came to a halt and the hand was removed, only to reappear on her shoulder. The firm grip the hand allowed its owner to turn Lita around. "You idiot."  
  
She blinked. "Heero.I.I was only trying to help."  
  
"Do you have any idea what could have happened to you tonight?"  
  
"I do now."  
  
He sighed in frustration. "You planned this all along didn't you?"  
  
"Well yeah. A person can only sleep so much, and well.you said you guys go to find out information so I decided to do investigating of my own. I knew I couldn't take a whole change of clothes, but I figured a few minor changes would protect me enough. So I went out and bought a pair of colored contacts and some cheap jewelry and made the changes in the bathroom after we got here."  
  
"Get rid of it now."  
  
"Yes sir." Heero's tone didn't invite argument, so Lita hurriedly popped out the contacts and put them away, switching her jewelry back to normal.  
  
"How did you smuggle that junk in here?"  
  
"Kept the necklace tucked in my hand, the earrings were stuffed up the back of my top and the contact case was stuffed in the waistband of my skirt.on the backside."  
  
He shook his head. "You put yourself in a very dangerous position tonight. You aren't trained for this kind of work."  
  
"Well.damn it Heero! I know that I'm not 'one of you', but I live in that house too. I have a right to know what's going on, but I don't know one god damn thing! You're keeping me in the dark. I did this as much for you as I did for me. If I could get something of use for you, maybe you'd respect me and then I'd have even an inkling about what was going on. Instead, all I got was a jackass looking to put the moves on me."  
  
Heero said nothing at this outburst, just stared for a minute in silence. "He was slime, no denying that. But you can't blame him for wanting to do that."  
  
"WHAT?" she cried. "WHY NOT?"  
  
"Because the same thing happens to me whenever we're together."  
  
Blushing, she looked down to the ground, shuffling her feet in embarrassment. "I don't understand you.so cut and dry soldier most of the time, and then you go do something like this.."  
  
"And your point is?"  
  
"You are the most confusing person I've ever met. Every time I think I've figured you out, you go and do something that just doesn't fit and then I have to piece the picture together all over again."  
  
"Am I such a mystery to you?"  
  
Lita looked back at him for a moment. At that moment, the sky opened up and a light, misty rain began to fall. A stereo seemed to take its cue from the rain, because the sounds of a radio station could be heard quite plainly. Shaking the water from her hair, Lita walked out of the alley, into the light of the streetlamp on the corner.  
  
Heero followed along behind her. "Avoiding the question. Must not have an answer.either that or you don't think I'll like the one you have to give."  
  
She shook her head. "Maybe until a minute ago. But I realized just now that I do know.I know exactly what you are. You're a lot of things to a lot of people.but.." She was interrupted by the sudden blaring of a song from the radio station on the stereo. Recognizing the soft guitar chords at the beginning, she leaned back against the light pole, swaying to the music, and began to sing along, to sing the words she couldn't say.  
  
Turn it inside out so I can see  
  
The part of you that's drifting over me  
  
And when I wake you're never there  
  
But when I sleep you're everywhere  
  
You're everywhere  
  
Just tell me how I got this far  
  
Just tell me why you're here and who you are  
  
'Cause every time I look  
  
you're never there  
  
And every time I sleep  
  
you're always there  
  
She looked down at him, gently resting her hand against his cheek, as the rain splashed off his hair.  
  
'Cause you're everywhere to me  
  
And when I close my eyes it's you I see  
  
You're everything I know  
  
that makes me believe  
  
I'm not alone  
  
I'm not alone  
  
There came a slight pause in voice as a bridge played, and as the singer's voice started again it wasn't Lita who sang the duet this time. The voice belonged to the young man who now had a hand resting on her cheek.  
  
I recognize the way you make me feel  
  
It's hard to think that  
  
you might not be real  
  
I sense it now, the water's getting deep  
  
I try to wash the pain away from me  
  
Away from me  
  
'Cause you're everywhere to me  
  
And when I close my eyes it's you I see  
  
You're everything I know  
  
that makes me believe  
  
I'm not alone  
  
I'm not alone  
  
I am not alone  
  
Whoa, oh, oooh, oh  
  
Lita hadn't expected him to know the words to this song, much less sing. But she duly picked up the words where he left off, letting her hand drop from his face.  
  
And when I touch your hand  
  
Likewise, Heero let his hand drop, instead picking up one of hers and continuing with the next line.and so it continued through the verse, the alternate voices.  
  
It's then I understand  
  
The beauty that's within  
  
It's now that we begin  
  
You always light my way  
  
I hope there never comes a day  
  
No matter where I go  
  
I always feel you so  
  
As the fingers on their joined hands twined together, an inseparable bond, so did their words, coming together to form a union of emotions.  
  
You're everywhere to me  
  
And when I close my eyes it's you I see  
  
You're everything I know  
  
that makes me believe  
  
I'm not alone  
  
'Cause you're everywhere to me  
  
And when I catch my breath  
  
it's you I breathe  
  
You're everything I know  
  
that makes me believe  
  
I'm not alone  
  
You're in everyone I see  
  
So tell me  
  
Do you see me?  
  
Blinking the rainwater from her eyes, she nodded in mute response to the song's question.  
  
Looking down at their hands, he nodded as well. "I see that we are not alone." He looked up at her, and for the first time, he smiled at her through the veil of rain. 


	12. A Damp and Silent Love

Here comes chapter 12 and I haven't taken possession of any of these characters since the time I wrote chapter 11. Therefore, they are still somebody else's property.  
  
Yeah! Chapter 12! Sorry to disappoint, but Relena will not be dying this chapter either.but I promise that shortly she will. No other real notes at this point that I can think of, except that it appears that other scouts should appear in the next chapter or the one after at the latest. Assuming that nothing else happens in the meantime that is. GOMEN MINNA! I am readjusting to college life and have a paper due next week (and I've only been in school a week!) so my update is rather slow this time. Also, with the large amount of papers I'm looking at this semester and with 3 stories I'm working on for this site, along with a fourth I'm supposed to be working on for another site things will be tortoise speed. In other words, slow but steady.but at least I'll finish the race ne?  
  
Thank you to all who have reviewed! It means a lot for me to know you guys actually like my work. ^_^  
  
Enjoy!  
  
"Heero! What are you doing out here?" Duo called out.  
  
Heero turned toward the direction of the voice.  
  
"Oh." Duo said, noticing Lita peeking around Heero's shoulder. "Dude, Heero you know you guys are um.soaked?"  
  
"Yeah. I noticed."  
  
Duo sighed. "Well, anyway, Wufei said he saw you come out here."  
  
"What do you want?"  
  
"Quatre and Trowa.they told me they had information."  
  
Heero frowned and turned back to Lita. "I need to talk to Duo. You go back inside. I'll be in a minute."  
  
"Is everything alright Heero?"  
  
He said nothing, merely motioned toward the club with his head.  
  
"Alright, alright.." A little reluctantly, Lita took her leave and headed back into Outer Space.  
  
"Gee, I'm sorry if I interrupted Heero. I had no idea.."  
  
"Hn. Now what do you want? I don't have all night to waste out here."  
  
"Ok, ok.hold your horses," Duo said, shaking his head. "Like I said, we've got some information.."  
  
Heero raised an eyebrow. "Are you absolutely sure it checks out?"  
  
"Looks good, but." Duo shrugged. "Seems Quatre ran into a soldier. The soldier got drunk and flashed around some orders, said to keep quiet about it because he was deserting OZ to join this rebel group. Well, Quatre swiped the guy's papers. Has the commander's name signed to these orders."  
  
Heero nodded. "Assuming they aren't fake, that could confirm the rumors."  
  
"I know.."  
  
Heero sighed.  
  
"Something wrong?"  
  
Heero shook his head. "I'll take care of it when the time comes. Right now I'm going back. The rest of you can stay if you feel you need too.or in your case, want to. Just make sure you bring the info back."  
  
"Whoa.leaving us on our own.I'm impressed," Duo teased. "What's the occasion?"  
  
Heero glared. "I have things to take care of before the time, if it comes, that we get involved."  
  
"Which translates to you aren't going to tell me..are you?"  
  
"No I'm not," Heero headed back toward the club.  
  
Duo hurried after him. "Where're you going?"  
  
"I'm taking Lita home. Don't need anybody getting sick now.it'd be a distraction. What business is it of yours anyway?"  
  
"Well, we need to be able to get a hold of you."  
  
"So now you know. Stop asking so many questions." Heero ducked into the entrance of the club and looked around for Lita, who happened to be under Wufei's jurisdiction at the moment.  
  
"Heero, Duo, we're over here!" Lita waved when she saw the two pilots come in, only too happy to see them. Wufei had been waiting just inside the door and when she'd come back in, he immediately took "custody" of her, demanding she stay next to him. He wound up somewhat regretting his decision when she decided to wring her hair out on him.  
  
"Lita," Heero said, "we're going back now. The others are going to stay behind and continue the work."  
  
"Ok," she said, still trying to wring some of the water out of her hair.  
  
"Oh thank god she's leaving," Wufei said happily. "I am not her personal towel boy!"  
  
Saying nothing in response, Heero merely told Lita to go wait at the entrance for him, he needed to talk to Wufei before they left. After she had complied, Heero turned his attention back to Wufei. "Did Quatre give you those papers?"  
  
"Maxwell did tell you then. Yes, I have them." Wufei reached into his pants pocket and pulled out the sheets of folded paper, handing them to Heero.  
  
Heero shoved them in his pants pocket and turned to go. Almost as an after thought, he turned back around. "Thanks."  
  
"Why thank me for papers you would have gotten anyway?"  
  
Heero shook his head. "For watching her."  
  
"Oh.the onna. Well, since I was the only one unoccupied with business, I decided I should take the responsibility of keeping that onna in line. That and I didn't want you shooting me after somebody decided to mess with your.um.property." (Not that he actually meant to insult anybody mind you, but he was rather lacking for a better word, not really believing that Heero would have an actual girlfriend.)  
  
Heero glared. "I will shoot you if I ever hear you refer to her as property again." With that, he turned on his heel and headed toward the entrance, leaving behind one very startled Wufei. He stopped only briefly to make an exchange with Duo. "Come on Lita," Heero said upon reaching his destination. He grabbed hold of her elbow again, guiding her outside to the parking lot and Quatre's car.  
  
"Um, Heero.I hate to ask.but um."  
  
"Yes?" he said, pulling out a set of car keys from his pocket.  
  
"If we're taking the car home, how will the other's get back?"  
  
"They can take a cab home," Heero said a bit angrily.  
  
"Isn't that kinda mean?"  
  
Heero shrugged as he unlocked his door and slipped into the driver's seat, unlocking the passenger door for her. "Wufei said something I didn't like, so I paid Duo for the car keys."  
  
"You did what?" she exclaimed, hopping into the car after him.  
  
"Duo had the car keys.I wanted them, so I paid him for them. He was more then agreeable when I handed over the money."  
  
All of a sudden she burst out laughing.  
  
"What's so funny?" Heero asked irritatedly.  
  
"Well.the thought of you paying Duo for car keys to get back at someone.almost like a joke. And I can't see you as a practical joker."  
  
"It wasn't for fun, believe me. If I'd had my gun I would have shot him," Heero said, pulling out of the parking lot and headed back toward Quatre's.  
  
"You wouldn't have really done that.would you have?"  
  
Heero shrugged. "Probably not. I say that a lot.haven't done it yet. Oh well, enough of that."  
  
Lita shook her head. He was back to his professional soldier self, but she was beginning to accept that it was just part of who he was. "So what now?"  
  
Heero shook his head. "I don't know. I wish I could give you an answer, but right now I just don't know."  
  
"I'm sorry.I shouldn't press so much I guess. I don't want to add to your anxiety by asking questions you can't answer."  
  
He made no reply, and nothing else was said the rest of the trip home. No words were exchanged even after they had entered the house. Each went their own ways in silence, cleaning up and drying off.  
  
After changing her clothes, Lita went out to the living room and sat down on the couch. She picked up the remote from the coffee table and flipped through the channels, but there was nothing that caught her interest so she turned the TV off and set the remote back down. Lita stared at the screen, her thoughts empty and blank. So absorbed in her void, she didn't notice the person sitting next to her until she felt something squeeze her shoulder. "Heero?" she asked surprised.  
  
"Hn?"  
  
"Nothing." She shook her head, letting it fall over onto his shoulder.  
  
The two sat in silence for a few moments, his arm around her shoulders and her head resting on his. Then, he found himself resting his cheek against her hair.  
  
Normally Heero was not an emotional person, as you well know. Even now that they were having this kind of "secret relationship", Heero still didn't express himself very much. And yet somehow, this time he felt a need to do so. Whatever was lurking the future wasn't good and Heero realized that they had little time left before their inevitable separation. 


	13. The Great Divide and The Fall

I don't own any of the following characters.which might be a good thing because I don't want to own Relena.  
  
Well, well.chapter 13 and people are still reading. Getting closer to the end of this story, but I have good news! Not only will the other scouts be showing up (finally!) but the long awaited moment has come! Not only will the contents of the mysterious (and long forgotten) third box be revealed but Relena will cease to exist! Not only that, I hope this should turn out to be a nice long chapter as a special thank you to all my reviewers!  
  
And is if that wasn't enough, eventually an as of yet unnamed sequel will be out. (once I finish developing a plot for it). Not to spoil anything for you, but in case you want to know, the basic premise is that Zechs, hearing that his sister is dead, goes looking for her killer. This will make more sense as a plotline once you've finished the chapter.  
  
Word of the day-Jiyuu! It means freedom.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
The next few days seemed to drag on forever. Yet at the same time, they didn't seem nearly long enough for some people.  
  
Heero and Lita became virtually inseparable. They were together almost every waking hour. If Lita was in the kitchen, Heero would be perched on a chair with his laptop. If Heero was in the living room working, Lita would be sitting next to him reading or dozing.  
  
Normally Heero hated having people around while he was working.he preferred to be alone. Not this time however. Even if he'd wanted to, he wouldn't have been unable to push her away.  
  
For her part, Lita knew that something was bothering Heero and she was determined to be there in case he needed anything.  
  
Their time together was mostly silent, no words passing between either, but it didn't matter. They knew how the other felt and that was all that was necessary.  
  
Then came the night. Heero told her they were going out, but she wasn't going with them this time. He made her promise to wait for them, and wait she did.  
  
Well after midnight, the group of pilots walked back into the house. "Who's there?" mumbled a sleepy voice, flipping on the light switch in the living room.  
  
"Lita?" Duo asked, dumbfounded. "What are you doing up? It's almost 2:00 in the morning!"  
  
She yawned. "That early hmm?"  
  
"You should be.." He was interrupted with a look from Heero that said I'll- handle-this.  
  
"Um.I meant I should be going to bed. A growing boy needs his sleep. Night," he said hurriedly, before dashing up the stairs.  
  
"Don't the rest of you have places to be right now?" Heero said gruffly.  
  
The remaining three looked at each other and back at Heero, then silently took their leave.  
  
Wufei scowled on his way up the stairs. "Did Duo put starch in Heero's laundry again?"  
  
"No Wufei," Trowa answered. "This is a hard time for him. Out of all of us, he's the one closest to Lita. In fact, I think she's closer to him then any of us."  
  
Quatre nodded. "I don't think it will be any easier for her. I guess we'll know in the morning."  
  
The three nodded among themselves before separating for the night.  
  
Meanwhile, back downstairs, Heero had gotten Lita back into her bedroom and she was now sitting on her bed, trying to rub the sleep from her eyes. "Why did you stay up?" he asked, sitting down next to her on the bed after turning on the desk lamp and shutting the door behind him.  
  
"I was waiting for you," she said looking at him, noticing for the first time the slight slump in his shoulders and the weariness lurking in his voice. "Heero.what's wrong? What are you hiding from me?"  
  
He looked down at the floor. "All of us, we've been working almost 24 hours a day trying to disprove the rumors. We failed. We failed our mission."  
  
"Failed?"  
  
"We proved the rumors tonight Lita, and because of that.because of that you're going to have to go back to Juuban."  
  
"What?" she screeched, all but awake now. "Heero, I'm not going back."  
  
"Listen to me..this isn't a game Lita. There's going to be a war here. A secret underground organization named Jiyuu, they're gathering here from all over, all of them anti-pacifists. Somehow their dislike of pacifism has been stirred up into a violent hate. Feeling that this philosophy has been suppressing their freedoms, they're rebelling and taking down the problem at its source. They plan on destroying the Sanq Kingdom, down to every last building. Do you understand?"  
  
"I'm not leaving Heero. I'm staying."  
  
He grabbed her by the shoulders. "Are you crazy? It's too dangerous for you to stay here!"  
  
"It is not! I've been in worse," she said pulling out of his grip. "I can help you guys."  
  
Heero shook his head. "How? You have no training as a soldier or a pilot. You have your powers, true. But we don't know how effective against a mobile suit they'll be. Besides, once you use them, you'll have revealed yourself to a lot of unscrupulous people who would stop at nothing to have that electric spark inside you."  
  
"But.but Heero." she said, pleading.  
  
"Lita none of us want to see you go, least of all me, but this is for the best. We're only doing this for your own protection. Please Lita.let's not spend the last hours we have arguing."  
  
She nodded slowly, trying to blink back a couple tears.  
  
"We're taking you to the train station tomorrow morning. You'll have to get your own plane ticket though."  
  
Lita shook her head. "I'll call Setsuna. I.my parents were killed in a plane crash. I don't want to be on a plane, especially not now."  
  
"Did she bring you here?"  
  
Lita nodded. "She created a portal between the two airports so all I had to do was walk between them, then catch the shuttle to the train station and take the train out here."  
  
Heero nodded. "Speaking of which, do you have somewhere you can stay?"  
  
"I.I can call Rei.Mars, Sailor Mars?"  
  
He thought for a moment, then blinked in recognition. "The priestess?"  
  
"That's right. She lives in that shrine with her grandpa and Chad, the sort of apprentice. I bet she'd let me stay and I could help her out. Rei'd probably enjoy having some company," she smiled sadly.  
  
"You better do it then. We don't have time to waste."  
  
She nodded and picked up the phone in her bedroom, dialing Rei's number. "..Hello Rei, it's Lita.yes, I'm fine. Listen, I know I haven't kept in touch but I need a favor. I'm coming back to Juuban.no, I don't know how long. Listen, I need a place to stay while I'm there and I was wondering if I could stay with you. I'd help you out in the shrine in return.I know I don't, but I don't want to be a freeloader.tomorrow afternoon.yeah, well.I gotta go. I need to talk to Setsuna.yeah, til tomorrow. Bye Rei."  
  
She hung up the phone. "Rei said it would be ok."  
  
"Good. Now you need to make your other call."  
  
"I know, I know.." Sighing, she picked up the phone again and dialed the number where Setsuna, Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru all called their own. ".Setsuna, it's Lita. I'm coming back to Juuban tomorrow and I need you to help me out again.yeah, just like last time.no, I don't know what time but you're supposed to be able to see the futures so why did you even ask?...Thanks Setsuna..bye."  
  
"She said she she'd meet me at the airport tomorrow and take care of everything."  
  
Heero nodded. "Good. Now, I have something else to tell you. We've been informed that Relena was evacuated. Knowing her, she won't go to her designated place.she'll be looking for you. With that in mind, I want to give you something."  
  
"Give me something?"  
  
"It's upstairs." He stood up and grabbed her hand. "Come on." Heero opened the bedroom door and guided her through the house, up the stairs, to his room. He flipped on the light and shut the door behind him. He then crossed the room to his dresser and after some rummaging, he found what he was looking for and went back to where she was standing. "Here."  
  
"Your gun? Heero, why are you giving me your gun?"  
  
"I told you, Relena's going to go looking for you and she won't stop until she makes it to Juuban. Something tells me it won't be for a social call. I want you to take this. You know how to use it. Let's just call it insurance ok?"  
  
"But.but don't you need it?"  
  
Heero laughed. "Are you kidding? Come here," he said, beckoning with his finger.  
  
Lita followed him over to his bed.  
  
Heero reached underneath it and pulled out what looked like a huge black suitcase. He plopped it on top of the bed and opened it up, revealing an assortment of handguns. "I've got several more of these hidden around the house. Some just like these, some with machine guns.so I don't need that one."  
  
Normally, the thought of being with so many guns would have made Lita nervous, but instead she was smiling. "Heero, you laughed. I don't think I've ever heard you laugh before."  
  
"Probably not. But I don't think you need to leave sad. Rather give you something to smile about."  
  
"Yeah, I guess.," she said softly, running her fingers over the gun in her hand.  
  
Heero looked at her. He could see the tiredness and hear the hints of sadness in her voice. "Come on Lita, you need to get some rest."  
  
"Yeah.guess I should get a little sleep..I guess I'll see you in the morning. Wait, it already is morning.later this morning I mean." She said her goodnight and turned to leave.  
  
"Lita, wait."  
  
She turned back to him. "Did you forget to tell me something?"  
  
"I guess you could say that."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"I was just wondering.why should we go our own ways any sooner then we have too.."  
  
"Do you mean.?"  
  
"Do you want to be alone tonight?"  
  
She shook her head slowly.  
  
"Then stay here with me. Please?" he asked, holding out his hand to her.  
  
Lita went over to his dresser and laid the gun down on top of it. Then she went over and took his hand, allowing him to pull her into a hug.  
  
"I'll be back in a minute ok?" Without waiting for a response, he freed himself and grabbed some things off a chair, leaving the room. He came back a few minutes later dressed in his pajamas. After putting things away, Heero flipped off the light and climbed into his bed, trying not to disturb the already sleeping girl curled under the blankets. Not bothering to say a goodnight that would fall on deaf ears, he pulled the blankets up and drifted to sleep.  
  
It seemed almost an instant later that Lita stirred, feeling the sun dance across her face. She blinked open her eyes, not recognizing her surroundings for the sleepy haze in her eyes. She shook her head slightly to clear it, suddenly realizing where she was. She sat straight up, trying to remember how she got there, or if she was only dreaming this. Deciding it could only be a dream, Lita started crawling around the bed, waiting to see if she would fall through. When that didn't work, she started feeling the blankets. She was in the process of doing this when Heero walked in.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
She frowned. "You're talking. Dreams don't talk."  
  
"Not normally," he answered. "But what makes you think you're dreaming?"  
  
"I woke up in your bed. Isn't that reason enough?"  
  
Shaking his head, he took the gun off the dresser and handed it back to her. "You better get ready. It's almost time.."  
  
Blinking, she stared at the weapon in her hand. "Last night.you gave it to me last night and then.guess I wasn't dreaming after all." Sighing, she slid off the bed, cradling the gun in her hands as she left the room.  
  
A couple of hours later, Lita had gotten herself packed and ready to go. She gave the room one last going over before pushing the suitcases into the kitchen. Then she turned out the light and shut the door behind her.  
  
She made her way into the living room, finding Heero standing and looking out a window. She crept up behind him and tugged on his shirt sleeve. "I'm finished Heero." She didn't say she was ready, because she wasn't. No matter how much time she had, she would never be ready to leave.  
  
He nodded and turned around to face her for a brief instant before heading to the kitchen. With Lita tagging along behind, the two of them grabbed her suitcases and took them out to the car where the other pilots were already gathered.  
  
The car was loaded and everyone climbed in. Soon they were on their way, nobody saying a word the entire time. The silence still hung about everybody when the all clamored out at the train station. The group unloaded her bags and found a place to set them down. Meanwhile, Quatre went and purchased her ticket.  
  
"Your train leaves in 10 minutes," Quatre said as he came back.  
  
Lita took the ticket in her hand. "Thanks."  
  
"Well get your bags on," Duo said, volunteering himself and Wufei for the job. They got her bags on the train and came back.  
  
"I.I guess I better say good-bye now. I don't want to be late," Lita said. She started with Quatre. "I just want to thank you for everything Quatre. Letting me work for you, everything you did.be careful ok? I wanna make sure I have an employer to come back to."  
  
He laughed. "I promise."  
  
Smiling, she gave him a hug before moving on to Trowa. "Well gee Trowa.we never really got to know each other, but when I come back hopefully we can fix that. Take care." And she hugged him goodbye as well.  
  
Next was Wufei. "Wufei.I know we haven't been best friends, but at least we're not exactly enemies either. Maybe if you try hard, next time I see you you'll actually be able to beat me in an argument?"  
  
"Count on it," he said, surprising everybody by initiating the goodbye hug.  
  
Next was Duo. Lita laughed. "I remember I how mad we were when we found out what you'd done.but it turned out alright in the end," she smiled, shaking her head. "Thank you Duo.I owe you one, a big one." Like the other's, she hugged him before moving on to the next and final member.  
  
"I'm gonna miss you Heero. You take care of yourself ok?"  
  
He nodded, pulling her into a hug. "I promise that as soon as it's safe again, we'll come to Juuban and get you."  
  
"Promise?" Lita asked.  
  
"Promise. As long as you promise to look after yourself."  
  
She nodded, pulling away reluctantly. "Goodbye everyone.hope to see you again soon." Trying to smile, she gave a small wave and turned to go down the platform.  
  
"Wait a minute," Heero called out, stepping up next to her. "Here." He took a small box and an envelope out from inside his jacket. "Open it when you get on the train, or at home.just not here."  
  
"Why not?" she asked puzzled.  
  
"You'll understand."  
  
"Yeah.oh, no! I almost forgot." She grabbed a piece of paper from her purse and a pen and scribbled down a phone number. "To Rei's temple. If you need to reach me."  
  
He nodded. "You.you better go now."  
  
"Bye Heero," she said softly, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek before turning and disappearing down the platform.  
  
Lita climbed into the train and found her seat, settling in for the brief ride to the airport. Laying the envelope in her lap, she opened the lid of the box. "Oh my god." she whispered to herself. Not believing her eyes, she snapped the lid shut and set it down, picking up the envelope. She opened the flap and pulled out the contents: a photograph and what looked like a note.  
  
The photograph was a little worn around the edges, like somebody had just stuffed any which where. It was a picture of a young boy, around 5 or 6.a boy that looked just like Heero. Lita flipped it over. On the back was written Our Little Boy-AC 185. Frowning, she picked up the sheets of paper that had been enclosed and mouthed the words written there.  
  
'Dear Lita,  
  
I'm no good with words, but you know that by now. I think, though, that I owe you some explanations.  
  
If you're reading this, it means that you've opened the envelope I gave you. Which also means you've found the picture.  
  
I found that a couple years ago in some rubble. See, I'm originally from the space colony L1. About 2 years ago, we were on a mission there.practically destroyed the place during the fight. I recognized one pile of rubble from the gates at the front. It was the orphanage I'd stayed in briefly before I started my training. I went in and poked around, hoping to find something that might give me a link to my past. All I found was this photo sitting in an unmarked metal box. No name on it, just a date.but there's no doubt that the boy in the picture is me.  
  
I've had it tucked away in a drawer in the hopes that one day it might come in handy. Well, now's the time. I'll never get any information from it so it's pointless for me to have it. Therefore, I'm giving you this picture.a reminder of my promise to come back for you.  
  
As for the box.well.I couldn't bring myself to tell you, and I can't even write it down. Yet somehow I know you'll understand. Next time I see you, I'll know your answer based on your finger. In the meantime, be careful.  
  
Heero'  
  
Not even noticing the train was already on it's way, she slid the items back into their envelope and shut it as best she could. Choking back her sadness, she slipped the envelope into her purse, then turned her attention back to the box in her lap.  
  
Flipping open the lid open again, she took out the small silver ring it contained. In the center of the band was a pink sapphire in the shape of a heart. There were also six small diamonds, clustered in threes, on either side of the heart. Blinking back yet more unshed tears, she slipped the ring onto the third finger of her left hand, her mind sinking into daydreams.  
  
Lost in thought as she was, she almost missed her stop at the airport. Shaking herself back to reality, she climbed off the train and gathered her bags, going in search of Setsuna. Finally spotting a restroom, she went inside. Fortunately it was unoccupied, for the moment she stepped in Sailor Pluto appeared, time staff in hand to create the portal needed to move between the two countries.  
  
Lita stepped through, followed by Pluto, coming out in a bathroom of the Juuban airport. Gathering her bags, Setsuna helped her carry them out to the parking lot.  
  
"I'll be taking you to Rei's," she said. "In case you wondered."  
  
Lita nodded. "Thank you Setsuna. You've been a great help to me."  
  
"I'd wager not as much as your 'friend'," she said, stealing a glance at the ring on Lita's finger as they loaded Setsuna's car.  
  
Lita blushed.  
  
Setsuna smiled. "I'm happy things have worked out for you. I know it wasn't an easy choice for you to leave your friends behind."  
  
Lita smiled back, relieved that her actions had been understood, at least by one person. "I guess I'll have to explain all this to the others," she said as the car left the parking lot.  
  
"They will want an explanation, yes. And I have no doubt you will be mobbed," she laughed. "But maybe that's what you need.to get reacquainted with your friends, to be surrounded by people who care about you."  
  
Lita nodded. "Something to help me make it through. I'm just worried that something will happen. But I guess I should have more faith in my friends. Heero promised they'd come back and I have a feeling he'd kill God himself to keep it."  
  
Silence then took over the conversation and kept things quiet til the hill of the Hikawa Shrine came into view. Setsuna parked the car at the foot of the hill, and with Lita's help, unloaded the car proceeding up the hill's steps up to the shrine.  
  
At the top of the steps, Lita set down what she was carrying up spotting her priestess friend feeding her pet ravens, Phobos and Deimos. "Hi Rei.I'm back."  
  
Rei turned around, jumping at the sound of the voice. "Lita!" she exclaimed, running over and hugging her friend. "It's so good to see you again!"  
  
"You too Rei. How have you been?"  
  
"Oh, the same," Rei laughed, letting Lita step back. "Only Chad's singing has gone from bad to worse. I swear that boy tries entirely too hard." That's when Rei noticed it. "I see you've done quite well."  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"The ring! Why didn't you tell me you were engaged?"  
  
"I.it just happened," Lita answered, blushing.  
  
"Oh wait until Mina hears about this," Rei laughed. "Speaking of, the others will be here in a little bit. I told them you were coming back today, so we made plans to have everybody meet here at the shrine for a reunion of sorts."  
  
Lita smiled. "It'll be good to see everyone again."  
  
"Yeah, they were all excited when I told them you were coming back. So.when do we get to meet this fiancé of yours?"  
  
"I.I don't know. You will, I promise, but.."  
  
Setsuna interrupted the conversation. "Why don't we take your things inside Lita and get settled?"  
  
Lita nodded. "I would like to be 'moved in' before the other's come."  
  
"Yeah, wouldn't want to miss your party. Follow me!" she said, helping the other two carry the bags inside to an unoccupied room next to Rei's. "There you are."  
  
"Thanks Rei."  
  
"No problem. Anything I can help you with?"  
  
"Well, if you want to help me unpack, I guess you can."  
  
"Ok!" The next couple hours were occupied with unpacking and conversation. Rei caught Lita up on all the doings of the past months in Juuban. Just about the time everything was all put away and arranged, a loud "LITA!" echoed through shrine.  
  
"SERNEA!" Rei screeched, storming out of Lita's room.  
  
"Rei, where's Lita?" Serena said.  
  
"I'm right here," Lita said, waving.  
  
"LITA!" Serena yelled, promptly bowling over the taller girl. "It's been forever! How are you? Where'd you go? OH MY GOD! IS THAT A RING?"  
  
Lita laughed at the storm of questions coming from her meatball haired friend. "One question at a time, and please, if I could wait until everyone was here? I'd rather not have to explain 7 times."  
  
"Oh, sorry!" Serena said cheerfully.  
  
"Ring? Ring? Who's got a ring?" another voice called, as a second blonde head poked around the corner of the hallway.  
  
"Lita's got a ring!" Serena called back.  
  
"Stop pestering her," the soft voice of Ami broke in. "I'm sure she had a long trip. At least give her some time to rest before you mob her."  
  
"Oh, sorry," Mina said, sweatdropping.  
  
"Hey you guys, the others are here!" Rei said. "We're meeting in the main room, so hurry it up!"  
  
"Coming, coming!" Serena yelled back. "Geez.what a crabapple," she muttered.  
  
Lita laughed. "I never though I'd live to see the day that I'd actually enjoy your little fights."  
  
Serena grinned and grabbed Lita's arm. "Welcome home Lita!"  
  
She smiled back, Mina and Ami following the other two into the meeting room. As she entered, she was greeted by the rest of the outer scouts. Smiling in acknowledgement, she took a seat in the circle on the floor. Before she could even open her mouth, somebody else opened there's.  
  
"Lita! When do we get to meet him hmm?" Serena asked.  
  
"Him who?" Haruka asked.  
  
"Him him." Serena answered matter of factly.  
  
"Him him who?" Haruka asked again.  
  
"Him!" Rei answered, grabbing Lita's left hand and holding it up so all could see the ring on her finger.  
  
"Rei, rings aren't male."  
  
"I know that meatball head. What I meant was the him who gave her the ring!"  
  
"Oh.I knew that!"  
  
"Sure you did Serena."  
  
"Well, well," Haruka said. "So our not-so-little chef is engaged?"  
  
"Well, yeah," Lita said, blushing slightly.  
  
"So, when do we get to meet him?" Mina asked.  
  
"I.I don't know," Lita answered. "He's a soldier and, well.he's gone to war. It will be a while before I see him again."  
  
"What does he look like?" Serena queried. "Do you have a picture?"  
  
"How did you meet?" Mina asked.  
  
"Have you set a day yet?" Rei wanted to know.  
  
"Well.I.." Lita stuttered, being overwhelmed by all the questions at once.  
  
"Perhaps you'd rather start at the beginning?" Hotaru asked, a small smile on her face.  
  
"Yes.yes that would be easier." So the tale was recounted, from Juuban to the Sanq Kingdom and back again. Yet there were some things that she kept to herself, special things she wanted to keep as a sort of secret between herself and Heero. "So you see," Lita said as she neared the end of the story, "as soon as the war is over he promised they'd come back for me. You'll meet him then."  
  
"Good," Rei said. "We're going to make sure that he passes inspection."  
  
Lita sweatdropped. "Well, um.." She scratched the back of her head nervously.  
  
"I think Lita's had enough story telling for one day," Setsuna said. "I think we should all take our leave and let her get settled in. You'll have many days to spend together after all." With that, she slowly herded the others out of the room, she being the last to leave. "He won't break his promise to you, that I can tell you," Setsuna said. "In the mean time, we will be here for you if you need us."  
  
"Thank you," Lita said, giving the older woman a hug of gratitude.  
  
Slowly, time moved on and three months passed with now word from any of the pilots. However much she wanted to know they were alright, she accepted the fact that there would be no communication. Even if they had written a letter, in the chaos of war the odds were not good it would have gotten through anyway.  
  
Fortunately, Lita had her friends. She helped Rei in the shrine, sweeping and selling charms. She studied with Ami, read manga with Serena, and played volleyball with Mina. The inner scouts could always be found at the mall on weekends, and when not with them, Lita went to go visit the outer scouts. She'd occasionally play tutor for Hotaru, listen to Michiru practice her violin, hang out with Haruka, and talk to Setsuna. Things were going well, in all.until one night toward the beginning of the fourth month.  
  
Lita had gone on a late night run to the store to pick up some ice cream. It was a nice night with just a hint of chill in the breeze, and the convenience store wasn't too far away, so Lita had walked. However, as she returned home with the bag, she heard the distant rumbles of thunder. Preferring not to get wet, took an ally short cut to get back to the road leading to the shrine. Just as she had reached the end and was preparing to step out onto the road, she turned at the sound of a voice.  
  
"I finally found you, you bitch."  
  
"Relena.."  
  
"You remember. I'm impressed." Relena stepped forward.  
  
In the dim light of the ally, Lita could just make out the gun in Relena's hand.  
  
"I made the mistake of letting you get away last time. A mistake I don't intend to repeat. Whatever went on between you and Heero is over as of now. With your death, there'll be no one standing in my way."  
  
Faced with a gun pointed toward her, Lita desperately tried to decide what to do. Using her powers was out, and even though she could easily overpower the pacifist princess, she'd be shot before it made any difference. Realizing she had no other choice, Lita pulled out the gun she'd tucked inside her jacket. She'd never taken it with her before, but going out at night alone she thought she should keep her promise to Heero to carry it. "Relena, please. Put that away before somebody gets hurt."  
  
"That's the whole point," Relena hissed, slowly pulling back on the trigger.  
  
In that split second, without conscious though, Lita pulled the trigger on her gun. The next thing she knew, Relena's body landed with a thud on the pavement. Horrified, Lita stuffed the gun back in her jacket and ran over to where Relena lay, the bag with the ice cream in it forgotten on the street. There was a hole in her chest, right at the heart, the red blood of her life flowing out steadily. It didn't take Lita but a second to realize that her opponent was dead.by her hand.  
  
"Oh my god," Lita whispered, her voice shaking. "I.I didn't mean for this to happen.." She stood up slowly and backed away. She grabbed the bag with the slowly melting ice cream in it and ran out of the ally, toward the shrine. 


	14. Do You Understand What I'm Saying?

Hmm.four weeks into school and I still don't own any body in this story. Oh well.hasn't killed me yet!  
  
I hope everybody enjoyed the last chapter! I know that some people were probably way out of character and I doubt everyone wanted Relena to die, but it seems people liked it anyway. This chapter won't exactly be as long as the last.but I hope you like it anyway. Thanks to everyone who as reviewed!  
  
One note before you start: Heero, and later (probably the next chapter) the other pilots will appear in an actual uniform.not the OZ uniform though. (It will be described later). The reason for the uniforms is that Quatre thought they should have them to identify themselves as being part of the good guys. Because they are independent fighters though, they have their own uniforms.that's why they don't look like OZ uniforms. Also, look for a few.events. to come up shortly.like Heero going shopping in a mall.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
Lita burst through the entrance of the shrine, flinging the grocery bag at Rei and heading for the phone.  
  
"Lita!"  
  
"Sorry!" she called back, grabbing the phone and disappearing into her room.  
  
Frowning, Rei went and put the ice cream away in the refrigerator. I wonder what's up with her, she thought to herself. She threw the plastic bag away, and went in the direction of Lita's room. On her way, she ran into Lita herself.  
  
"Sorry," she said, putting the phone back.  
  
"Is everything ok?" Rei asked.  
  
"Fine. I'm going out. Be back later." Lita hurried out of the shrine again.  
  
Rei frowned again, staring after her friend. Something wasn't right.  
  
Three hours and 25 hands of Old Maid later, Rei looked at her watch. "I'm really starting to get worried.."  
  
Chad picked up the pile of cards. "You want me to go out and look for her?"  
  
"We might have too.." Sighing, Rei stood up and went back to the entry way. She opened the door and looked out. "Lita!" she called, seeing her friend walking across the courtyard. "Where have you been? I've been worried sick!"  
  
"I'm ok." Giving a small smile, Lita went on inside and shut herself in her room.  
  
Rei followed, knocking gently against the sliding paper door. "Lita.talk to me. What's wrong?"  
  
"Please Rei.I don't wanna talk about it. I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
Rei sighed. "Night," she said before going to her own room.  
  
For the next two weeks, Lita didn't leave the temple.not even for the weekly Saturday shopping trip. She merely dressed in the Shinto robes she'd borrowed from Rei and sat in the room with the sacred fire, meditating and praying.  
  
Everyone was worried about her, but they decided to respect her wishes and leave her alone. Then one day, Rei got a phone call.  
  
"Hikawa Shrine, Rei Hino speaking."  
  
"Miss Rei.my name is Quatre Winner. A Miss Kino is supposed to be staying with you and I wondered if I might speak to her."  
  
"Quatre?" Rei asked. "Oh, right.I remember now. Lita's here, but I don't know if she'll talk to you. She's been acting funny the past couple weeks."  
  
"What do you mean acting funny?"  
  
"It's kinda hard to explain.she just hasn't been real sociable lately. I can't honestly say whether she'll be in a mood to talk to you or not."  
  
"I have a feeling she will. Please let me try at least."  
  
"Ok, ok.just a second." Rei covered up the mouthpiece of the phone and went to the room with the fire in it. "Lita.don't mean to interrupt, but Quatre's on the phone. He wanted to see if you'd talk to him."  
  
Lita stared blankly at Rei. "Quatre? QUATRE!" she cried in sudden recognition, grabbing the phone from Rei's hand and dashing back to her room. "Quatre I wanna talk to Heero. Now."  
  
"Nice to hear from you too," he chuckled.  
  
"Now!"  
  
"You'll have to wait a minute. He's busy with a report."  
  
"Well.damn it, just go interrupt him! This is an emergency Quatre.I'm serious."  
  
Though she couldn't see it, Quatre was sweatdropping on the other end of the phone. "Ok, ok.hold on a sec."  
  
Lita tapped her fingers against the phone, waiting through the silence on the other side.  
  
A few moments later, a slightly irritated voice came on. "Who are you and why the hell are you interrupting my work?"  
  
"Well, excuse me. If you don't want to hear my life and death problems then I'll just call someone who cares."  
  
"Lita! Quatre didn't tell me it was you.."  
  
Heero was quickly cut off. "I killed Relena."  
  
"Very funny. I thought you just said you killed Relena."  
  
"I killed Relena."  
  
"Stop saying that Lita."  
  
"I killed Relena."  
  
"You killed Relena?"  
  
"I killed Relena."  
  
"..You're serious."  
  
"Uh, yeah..I killed Relena."  
  
"That can't be.we just heard about her death a couple days ago. News said it was ruled a suicide."  
  
"They're wrong.it only looks that way.."  
  
"Shit.." Heero swore. "Does anybody else know about this?"  
  
"No. Just me and now you.well, sorta.."  
  
"Sorta? What does that mean?"  
  
"Um.that I talked to the police the night it happened?"  
  
"You did WHAT?"  
  
"I panicked..I didn't tell them anything, just that I found her in the ally.."  
  
"Listen to me.even though they haven't come after you, if the right people get involved they might reopen this case. Stay put and I'll be there tomorrow."  
  
"But.but what about your mission?"  
  
"Screw the mission. It's nothing the others can't handle."  
  
"You'd really come all the way out here?"  
  
"I just said I would didn't I?"  
  
"Well, yeah.."  
  
"Alright then. I'll see you tomorrow. Oh, and one other thing."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"I love you," he said, hanging up before she could reply.  
  
Smiling to herself, she opened up the sliding door of her room and went to put the phone away. "Rei, Rei where are you?" Lita called, looking around.  
  
"In the kitchen," Rei answered.  
  
Lita made her way into the kitchen. "Heero's going to be here tomorrow.for a visit. Don't tell anyone.if all the girls were here at once giving him the third degree he'd go ballistic."  
  
"This is a bit sudden don't you think?"  
  
"Yeah, I know and I'm sorry. But it was Heero's idea and he's stubborn. There's no way I'd be able to talk him out of it."  
  
Rei sighed. "Alright, alright..I guess I can find room for another one, but only because he's your fiancé."  
  
"Thanks Rei," Lita smiled.  
  
Rei shook her head and smiled.  
  
Next morning, Rei was out sweeping in the courtyard when she heard the sounds of shoes tapping across the stone path. Looking up, she saw a young man with unruly brown hair and midnight eyes. He was wearing a dark green pair of uniform pants and a uniform jacket of the same color, along with a khaki colored shirt and a black tie and shoes. Over his shoulder was a black bag and he looked about as friendly as a porcupine. Oh god.is that Heero Rei asked herself.  
  
"Are you Rei Hino?" he asked.  
  
"I am. What business do you have here?"  
  
"I want to see Lita."  
  
Just as Rei opened her mouth to answer, Lita appeared in the courtyard. "Hey Rei, breakfast is.." Her voice trailed off as Rei turned toward her. "Heero!" 


	15. Quills and Keys

Like anybody is surprised by this, but I don't own these characters. Just the mess I put them into.  
  
Just a minor note at this time. Well, at least it's the only one I can think of. I know I've said there would be a sequel to this..well, I've changed my mind. But before you panic, let me explain. I got to thinking after I read Sailor Emerald's comment about bringing Zechs in, and I realized that the story will flow better if the planned sequel is just incorporated into the story. So what once was the sequel will now be part of the story, meaning that I'm not as close to the end as I thought I was. Also means that there might still be hope for other sailor/pilot pairings. Oh well.I hope you all will continue to read and enjoy it!  
  
"Heero!" Lita called out, running across the courtyard, all but knocking Heero over.  
  
"Somebody's in a hurry," he said, a hint of smile on his face.  
  
"Of course you dummy! I haven't seen you for four months after all."  
  
"Only four?" he frowned. "I could have sworn it was longer."  
  
"Oh really? And why is that?" Lita asked. "Miss me did you?"  
  
"I guess you could say that."  
  
She raised an eyebrow. "Fine. See if I talk to you." She turned around and marched back into the shrine in mock anger.  
  
Rei looked on, puzzled. For two people who were getting married, they sure didn't seem to be that close.  
  
Following in Lita's footsteps, Heero passed by the priestess, but not before making a declaration of sorts. "Lita will not be joining you for breakfast this morning. We have business to discuss, so I'd like you to make sure we aren't interrupted." Without waiting for a response, he continued on his path to the inside.  
  
"Well, well." Rei said, putting her hands on her hips, glaring at his retreating back. "Just who does he think he is?" she muttered under her breath.  
  
Heero poked around for a few minutes, until he found Lita. "Come on, we have business to take care of."  
  
"Heero," Lita frowned. "I was just getting ready to have breakfast. Can't it wait?"  
  
"No."  
  
She sighed, knowing better then to argue when he used that particularly demanding tone of voice. "Alright." Grabbing some toast and putting on a plate and a glass of orange juice, she led him back to the room she was staying in. "Now what's so important that it can't wait?"  
  
"Relena," he answered.  
  
Grumbling, Lita set her breakfast down on the desk. "You just got here.."  
  
"I know that," he said, sliding the paper door shut behind him. "But this needs to be done, and soon. Besides, you were the one that sounded so desperate on the phone."  
  
"I know...and I do wanna talk about it, but does it have to be now?"  
  
"Yes it does," Heero said, digging out his laptop from his bag and going about setting it up.  
  
Frowning, Lita munched her toast while watching him.  
  
Soon, everything was up and running and Heero was tapping away furiously on the laptop's keys.  
  
"What are you doing?" Lita asked, finishing the last of her toast.  
  
"I'll tell you in a minute. First, I want you to tell me everything that happened the night it happened."  
  
So Lita relayed the whole story to him. How she had gone out shopping, run into Relena, and wound up shooting her. "I didn't mean to, honest! But using the gun you gave me was the only way I could see to defend myself. Well, besides transforming but I didn't think that was such a good idea."  
  
Heero nodded, still messing with his laptop. "You told me on the phone that you called the police."  
  
"Yeah. I just kind of freaked out after it happened, so I ran straight back here and called the police. I went to the station that night to answer some questions. I told them my name, where I was staying, how I happened to find the body and what the area was like when I got there.you know, the usual stuff. It was probably silly, but I thought that if I turned her in, they wouldn't look to me as a suspect."  
  
"It makes logical sense. Most normal killers wouldn't report their victims."  
  
"Oh, so I'm an abnormal killer now.."  
  
"Frankly, from these files I'd have to say that you couldn't have picked a better time to kill somebody."  
  
"Heero! I didn't want to kill her! And what files?"  
  
He pointed to his laptop where he was currently scrolling through some police documents. "I did some.searching.into files connected with Relena's death."  
  
"You mean hacking don't you?"  
  
"It's all the same," he shrugged. "And yes, I know you didn't want to kill her. All I meant was that circumstances were quite favorable to avoid your incrimination in this."  
  
"Oh?" she asked.  
  
Heero nodded, sitting back from his laptop. "First of all, there were no fingerprints on her or her gun except hers."  
  
"Well I would hope so. I didn't touch her."  
  
Ignoring her outburst, he continued. "There were no footprints at the scene, or any other evidence that could be traced to anybody. Relena's gun just happened to be the same model as mine, so the bullets are identical. Not only that, but one bullet was missing from the clip and it had been recently fired. Which leads to the conclusion that Relena took a practice shot somewhere not long before you ran into her, since you said she didn't fire at you and there were no other bullets found at the scene." He shut down his laptop, putting it back in his bag.  
  
Lita sighed in relief. "So that's why they called it a suicide. I mean, with all that evidence you can't really call it anything else."  
  
"You're not clear yet you know," Heero said.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Relena was in a position of power. She worked with influential people and I highly doubt that any one of them is going to believe that she killed herself. Especially her brother."  
  
"Brother.?"  
  
"Milliardo Peacecraft, better known as Zechs Marquise. He's a gundam pilot too, but he's an enemy of us all."  
  
"Are you saying then that these other people.and her brother.they could have this case reopened?"  
  
Heero nodded. "I'm sorry to have to say it, but it's true. And I remember your sternness the last time I withheld information from you."  
  
"So.so what do I do now?"  
  
"Go on as if everything is normal. I'll be staying here and the other pilots will be joining me when they're done so all five of us will be here to protect you. Speaking of which, I'm taking possession of that gun."  
  
"Why? You gave it to me! You aren't going to go throw it out are you? Cause if you do I'm going to have to get, well.bad tempered."  
  
He shook his head. "A soldier would be expected to have a gun. A girl at a shrine wouldn't."  
  
"Well, I guess you're right.." Lita sighed.  
  
Just then they were interrupted by a rattling of the door, followed by Rei's voice. "We're supposed to meet the other girls at the mall in an half an hour. I'll be leaving at 11:40. If you're going."  
  
Lita stood up and opened the door. "Of course I'm going. Heero too."  
  
"I don't do malls."  
  
"Oh come on Heero," Lita pleaded. "At least just come this one time? The girls have been wanting to meet you so much."  
  
"Hn."  
  
Lita smiled. "We'll be ready."  
  
Rei gave a curt nod and left.  
  
Lita slid the door shut again, leaning her forehead against one of the wooden frame pieces. "We never seem to get a break do we Heero? Relena interrupted us, then your mission..You've finally come back and what do we talk about? Relena.."  
  
"Life is a series of interruptions.interrupted by living. But I promise everything will work out." He kissed her cheek, before grabbing his bag. "Show me the bathroom. If you're dragging me to a mall I'm not going like this."  
  
Laughing, Lita showed him the way. "There you are."  
  
Nodding his thanks, he disappeared inside, a change of clothes in his arms. A few minutes later he remerged dressed like he normally did when not on a mission, his uniform draped over his arm and the black shoes in his hands. "Some place I can hang it up?"  
  
"My room," Lita answered. She grabbed the uniform, going back to her room. Pulling out hanger, she arranged everything neatly and hung it on a hook inside the closet door. Sneaking a peek at her watch, she saw it was almost time to leave. Grabbing her jacket, she walked out into the hall, where Heero was waiting, and slid the door shut behind her. "Come on," she said, tugging on his hand and pulling him along.  
  
Minutes later, they were headed into the mall. Mina was the first one to spot them as they walked in the front entrance. "Hey guys!" she called out, waving from her spot in front of the large fake tree they met at every week.  
  
Lita waved back. "Hey everyone. I brought a visitor.hope you don't mind."  
  
"Visitor?" Ami asked. "But all I see are you and Rei."  
  
Lita looked around. "Alright, where did you go? I know you're here somewhere.."  
  
"Are you so sure?" came an answering voice.  
  
She laughed. "I can hear you talking. Isn't that proof enough? Now where are you?"  
  
"Behind you."  
  
Lita turned around just as Heero stepped out from his "hiding place" next to a pop machine.  
  
Serena's eyes lit up like Christmas tree lights. "Heero! You're Heero aren't you?" she said, with a big smile on her face.  
  
The young man nodded. "You must be Serena." He scanned the other two. "Ami, Mina," he nodded in acknowledgement.  
  
"Hello," they chorused. "Have you met Rei?" Mina asked.  
  
Again, he nodded. "This morning."  
  
"And you didn't tell us?" Serena gasped. "Rei! You're so mean!"  
  
Rei waved her arms around. "He just got here this morning and then he holed up with Lita! Geez.."  
  
"Oh really," Mina said, giving Lita a sly look. "And just what were you two up to?"  
  
"Mina!" Ami exclaimed.  
  
Lita blushed. "Not that, that's for sure. But if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it." She abruptly changed the subject, in order to direct their attention elsewhere. "It's Saturday, our shopping day. So let's do some shopping!"  
  
"SHOPPING!" Mina and Serena yelled in unison, before running off in a race to see who would be the first one to get to their favorite shoe store, currently have a huge sale.  
  
"SERENA!" Rei took off after her. "YOU KLUTZ, YOU'RE GONNA TRIP!"  
  
Ami sighed. "They'll never learn. Excuse me for leaving, but I best go and facilitate..again." Shaking her head, Ami began walking in the direction the others had taken.  
  
"Hey Ami, wait up!" Lita called, dragging Heero along behind her. "Can't leave us out."  
  
Ami smiled back, and the three made their way to the store.  
  
Three hours and four stores later, Serena and Mina were carrying a mountain of bags and boxes each. Rei had also done a fair bit of shopping as well. Ami had a few books and some other small things. Lita had tried not to go too out of control, but her enthusiasm at being out with her friends proved too much and she would up carrying only a slightly smaller mountain then her two over-zealous companions.  
  
For his part, Heero was silently hoping they would take a break. Three hours of watching girls try on shoes and babble about clothes and what color earrings went best with this shirt and which shirt went best with what length skirt were more then enough to drive him crazy. Even worse was when they tried to ask him his opinion on something. Heero was definitely no fashion expert. He said nothing though, knowing that this was good for Lita, taking her mind off her worries. His thoughts were shortly interrupted.  
  
"I'm hungry."  
  
"Serena, you're always hungry."  
  
"But Rei..." she pouted. "All this shopping works up an appetite!"  
  
"Yeah," Mina said in agreement. "I move we adjourn to the food court for a snack."  
  
"You mean 10 course meal," Rei said, looking pointedly at Serena.  
  
"Rei!" Serena sniffled. "I can't help it if I'm a growing girl."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"Alright you two," Ami said. "I think that's quite enough, especially in front of our guest. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't want to sit with us."  
  
"I hadn't planned on it," Heero said. "I have other business to attend too."  
  
"Oh, well in that case.." Ami's voice trailed off.  
  
"Heero, you're not bailing are you?" Lita asked sternly.  
  
"No. I have business. I'll meet you at the food court in a while." So saying, he turned and headed off.  
  
"No offense Lita, but Heero's kinda.rude." Mina said. "Ami was trying to be nice to him and he just gave her the brush off."  
  
"Rude isn't the word for it," Rei said as the small group headed for the food court. "He's as prickly as a porcupine!"  
  
Serena giggled. "His hair's the right color for a porcupine anyway."  
  
"But seriously!" Rei continued. "When he showed up this morning he just started giving me orders that he didn't want to be disturbed. I mean really.it's my shrine after all. I didn't have to let him stay."  
  
"If you didn't want him coming, then why'd you say it was ok?" Lita asked, a bit harshly.  
  
"I didn't know you were engaged to a bucket of ice water!"  
  
"That's not fair!" Lita exclaimed. "You hardly know him!"  
  
"Well." Mina said. "You have to admit he hasn't been very nice to us. I mean, he's hardly said two words to us all afternoon."  
  
"That's better then being threatened isn't it?" Lita retorted.  
  
"Threatened?" Mina gulped.  
  
Lita nodded. "He threatened to kill me once."  
  
"Are you nuts?" Rei cried. "He threatened to kill you and you're engaged to him?"  
  
Lita frowned. "That's just how he is. He threatens people all the time, but they're always idle threats. Don't worry, he won't hurt you guys."  
  
"I don't care," Rei said. "He rubs me the wrong way. He's got no personality, doesn't talk, and is rude when he does."  
  
"He is cute," Mina said. "But gee, that's the only reason I can think of for you marrying him."  
  
"Please," Ami said softly, glancing at the hurt expression on Lita's face. "He is a soldier after all. That might not excuse his behavior, but I'm sure he's not doing it intentionally."  
  
"Maybe not, but that doesn't change my opinion," Rei said, moving away to get in line at a frozen yogurt stand in the food court.  
  
"Sorry Lita, but.I agree with Rei." Mina went and dumped her bags at a table, getting in line behind Rei.  
  
"I'm sorry Lita," Ami said softly. "He does come across as rather.bristly.but I'm sure he has his reasons for being that way."  
  
Serena nodded. "Don't listen to Rei. She's just being a sourpuss because Chad has taken up karaoke to practice for his rock star career." Setting her bags down, Serena stretched her arms a little. "Mina is right though, he is cute," she said, giggling, before becoming serious. "I know how hard things have been for you.how much you've wanted someone to love. I also believe that you wouldn't have agreed to this marriage unless you were sure. A relationship is one thing, but a commitment like this is something totally different, so I'm quite sure that your love can't be one sided. Besides, I saw the way he looked at you when he thought nobody noticed. He may be a man of few words, but I can tell he loves you."  
  
Lita smiled, hugging her friend. "Thank you Serena."  
  
Ami looked on, smiling herself. "Well done Serena. You may sill fight with Rei like a child, but you are definitely growing up. You're mother the queen would be proud of you."  
  
Smiling broadly, Serena picked up her bags. "Now let's go have our snack!" Laughing, the other two girls followed Serena to a table where she deposited her bags. Then she led them over to a stand selling ice cream.  
  
When Heero finally arrived, he was treated to an interesting sight. Mina and Rei were sitting at one table, and Serena, Lita, and Ami at another. Even from the distance he was from the two groups, he could sense the tension between them, knowing on instinct something was wrong. Shifting the box under his arm, he walked over to the table where Lita was, sitting down in an empty chair next to her. He nodded briefly at the other girls before turning his attention back to Lita. "Have a few other things I have to take care of. I'll meet you back at the shrine ok?"  
  
"More business? But Heero, what about.." Her voice trailed off, seeing the look he was giving her.  
  
"I'm doing this for you," he said. "Excuse me," he said, looking at Serena and Ami before getting up and leaving again.  
  
Lita tried not to show her nervousness. She could think of only one reason he'd be in such a hurry to do anything for her and she most certainly couldn't explain it to her friends.  
  
"Say Lita," Serena interrupted her thoughts. "I should be going home here. I promised mom I'd help with dinner tonight..um, ok I have to help with dinner because I flunked my English test last week.but anyway, you could come over and hang out with me for a while."  
  
"Thanks for the offer, but I better not. I don't know how long Heero will be gone, so I'll just wait for him at the shrine. If he came back while I was gone, I don't think he and Rei would be able to be civil to each other very long."  
  
"Hmm.didn't think about that. Oh well, maybe some other time."  
  
Lita nodded. "Say Ami, could I possibly get a ride back to the shrine with you? I'd go back with Rei, but.I don't want to do or say anything that I might regret later."  
  
"I understand," Ami said kindly. "Of course it's no problem for me to give you a ride."  
  
"Thanks Ami."  
  
Upon her return to the shrine, Lita carried her bags to her room and put the contents away. Not sure when Heero was going to get back, or if Rei had "cooled off" yet, she went out into the courtyard and climbed up in one of the trees to think. It seemed like she'd just gotten settled in when she found herself blinking her eyes open at the sound of footsteps. Peering down from her limb, she got a clear view of the intruder. "Heero!"  
  
Heero looked around, looking for the source of the voice.  
  
"Over here," Lita said, hopping down from the tree.  
  
He turned and looked at her. "What were you doing up there?"  
  
"Um.I don't know. I went up there to think, but I guess I fell asleep."  
  
He walked over to where she was standing. "Want to tell me what's wrong?"  
  
"Wrong?"  
  
"You came out here to think.and you and your friends had rather odd seating arrangements when I met you guys this afternoon. Logic dictates that something's wrong."  
  
"Hit the nail on the head, as usual." She sighed, leaning back against the tree. "We kinda had a fight.some of them think you're rude and don't seem to like you much. I mean, all of them are like a surrogate family to me, but now you're part of my life too and I really wanted all of you guys to get along."  
  
"They are entitled to their opinion after all. I'm not the friendliest person in the world I admit. But I don't care what any of your friends think about me and you shouldn't either. I'm a soldier here to help his fiancé, not a guy running for class president."  
  
She laughed. "That's one thing you're definitely not. Speaking of which, I've hardly seen you this afternoon. What have you been up too?"  
  
"Business."  
  
"So you say."  
  
"I said I was doing it for you, and I am. A lot's happened in the last four months and I think that there is some business that needs to be taken care of.like packing. How soon can you be ready?"  
  
"Ready? Packed? For what?"  
  
"Just tell me how long it will take you to get packed for one night."  
  
"Um, well...about 15 minutes or so I guess."  
  
"Good," he nodded his approval. "Go do that, and bring my bag out with you when you come back. Meet me here."  
  
"Ok," Lita answered, wondering just what he was up to. She disappeared into the shrine, only to come out about 15 minutes later with the two bags. "There we go. Now do you mind telling me what's going on? And what happened to that box you had earlier?"  
  
Heero grabbed his bag from Lita, guiding her down the steps of the shrine. "You'll see the box soon enough."  
  
"Well, can you tell me at least where we're going?"  
  
Heero reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, a hotel key. 


	16. Babysitter For an Afternoon

gasp Shock, dismay! I don't own these people! They're just on loan for me to play with. Hehe.  
  
I apologize to all of you who think the scouts were mean to poor Heero. I promise you though, they will come to understand later and they will not be so mean to him. You must admit though, if you ran into a guy who came across as a prickly porcupine, you'd probably feel the same way Rei does initially. But everything will work out in the end, I promise! Cross my heart and hope to self-detonate.  
  
P.S.-I made up the game Nuclear Planet. I know of no such video game in existence, but if there is I don't own it either.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
Heero yawned slightly, opening his eyes, wondering why he hadn't heard the alarm go off yet. As his senses slowly started to wake up with the rest of him, he realized why. Burrowed into the pillow next to his head was a still sleeping Lita. Smiling to himself, he wondered if she was feeling any better this morning.  
  
"You're staring," she mumbled, brushing some hair out of her eyes.  
  
"Could be. But I thought you were asleep."  
  
"You're not the only one who can be sneaky you know." Yawning slightly, Lita rolled over onto her back.  
  
"I'll remember that."  
  
"Good," she said with a grin, stretching a little. "But I am a little curious about this. I mean.it just doesn't seem like you to do something like this, or this either.." Lita turned onto her side, lifting up a silky green article of clothing that had been discarded barely 5 minutes after being taken out of the box.  
  
"It was you that said we hadn't seen each other in four months. Is it so hard to believe that I could miss you so much in short a time?"  
  
"Well, I guess not. Just seems that you'd be using your energy for more important things then missing me.like your mission?"  
  
"As if I can't do two things at once," he said.  
  
Lita laughed. "Ok, ok. Point taken."  
  
Heero smiled. "Now that I've won, how about breakfast?"  
  
"As if.I gave you something last night. I'm not making your breakfast too," she teased.  
  
"Then maybe you'll show me where I can get some?" he asked, brushing a finger down her cheek.  
  
"I think I can do that," she giggled in reply.  
  
A little while later, they had left the hotel and were having the "long anticipated" breakfast at a small diner down the street. Their conversation was interrupted by a ringing noise. "Oh now what?" Lita grumbled, reaching into her purse and pulling out her cell phone. "Hello..Serena?....What's wrong?....Well, I don't know, but I can ask. Just a sec." She set the phone down on the table.  
  
"Who is it and what do they want from me?"  
  
"Haha Heero, very funny," Lita answered. "It's Serena. Her parents decided to go out for the day and want her to watch her brother Sammy, but she's going nuts with boredom because all Sammy's doing is playing video games so she asked if I would mind coming over to help out. She invited you too."  
  
"Well, I'm not much for playing babysitter, but I guess this is a good diplomatic opportunity."  
  
"Trust you to say something like that." Laughing, she picked up the phone again. "Hey Serena, we'll be over as soon as we finish breakfast ok?....Yes, as in both of us. See you soon." She hung up and put the phone away. "Thanks for agreeing Heero.I mean, I don't think it will be very exciting for you."  
  
He shrugged. "She's your friend. I have a feeling she'd go out of her way to help you, or any of us if we needed anything."  
  
Lita smiled. "If only everybody could see you like this.."  
  
"Except Duo..I don't need him to ruin my reputation," Heero said with a slight smirk.  
  
Laughing, the two of them finished off their meal. After a stop at the shrine to get rid of the bags from the night before. Then, making use of public transportation, combined with a little foot-power, they then made their way to Serena's house. Lita knocked on the door.  
  
It opened to reveal the blonde's cheerful face. "Hi guys!" she smiled broadly. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you two. Come on in!" She ushered her guests inside, shutting the door behind her and showing them to the living room. "If you guys want to sit down, I'll go get my brother.he can pry himself away from his video games long enough to say hi." She left the room, coming back a couple minutes later dragging one little brother along with her.  
  
"Aww come on Serena.."  
  
"Be nice."  
  
Sammy rolled his eyes. He'd much rather be playing his game then saying hi to one of his big sister's "dumb" friends. "Hi," he said. "Ok, I said hi.can I go back and play now?"  
  
"No!" Serena exclaimed. "I want to introduce you to someone first. Lita brought her fiancé with her today. His name is Heero Yuy. Heero, this monster here is my brother Sammy."  
  
Sammy looked at Heero. "Gee, do you hire yourself out at Halloween to parties? 'Cause I bet you're great at scaring kids."  
  
"Sammy!" Serena quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, fighting to keep it there while he squirmed free.  
  
Heero raised an eyebrow. "No, I'm not a monster for hire. I'm a soldier."  
  
"No way.." Sammy kind of stared for a minute before continuing. "Say, you don't happen to play video games do you?"  
  
"Not really. But I do play the occasional battle sim. It's good training."  
  
"You ever play Nuclear Planet?"  
  
"Yeah, I've played that one. It' one of the more challenging sims I've played. Why?"  
  
"I keep getting stuck at this one part where you have to assassinate the head of the enemy nation."  
  
Heero thought for a minute. "Have to get him to open the briefcase with the bomb in it and get out before he does open it."  
  
"Yeah!" Sammy exclaimed. "Some loser aide keeps opening it up before I get out so I keep blowing up."  
  
"Don't remind me," Serena groaned. "Every time he dies I can hear his frustrated thumping and yelling all over the house."  
  
"Serena! Stop telling stories."  
  
"I'm not," she said, sticking her tongue out.  
  
"Are too!" Sammy stuck his tongue out at her.  
  
Heero looked at Lita.  
  
"Don't worry. They do this all the time," she said.  
  
As soon as there was an interlude in the impromptu arguing match, Heero interjected. "If you want some help, I could show you."  
  
"Really?" Sammy grinned manically as he headed upstairs to his room, Heero following behind. "Finally, I will kill you Adophius!"  
  
Serena shook her head as they left. "I hope he beats him.I'm tired of having all the pictures in my room shake every time he blows up."  
  
"Poor Serena.maybe I'll just have to make some double chocolate chip marshmallow cookies to make her feel better."  
  
"I was hoping you'd say that," she grinned guiltily.  
  
Laughing, Lita and Serena made their way into the kitchen. A couple of hours later there was a nicely cooled supply of cookies. "You know," Serena said as she munched on a cookie. "I haven't felt any earthquakes this afternoon.."  
  
"It has been pretty quiet," Lita agreed.  
  
Jus then there was a crashing noise, followed by Sammy poking his head in the kitchen. "I thought I smelled cookies!"  
  
"I really shouldn't let you have any before lunch.it will spoil your appetite."  
  
"You're eating one," he pointed out. "But then again nothing could spoil your appetite could it Serena?"  
  
"I'll get you for that!" She immediately started chasing him around the kitchen. "Come back here you fungus!"  
  
"Hey you two!" Lita called out. "If you wanna eat then you're gonna have to chase each other somewhere else. Can't make anything with you two running around in here."  
  
Sweatdropping, the two siblings sat down at the table while Lita fixed lunch. Heero made his appearance just as Lita set the plates on the table. "Good timing, as usual."  
  
"Naturally," he replied.  
  
The four shared some conversation during their meal. Afterwards, Heero and Sammy disappeared back upstairs.but not before stealing a few cookies on the way out. Lita and Serena did the dishes, spending the rest of the afternoon in idle chatter while the boys hammered away at enemy troops. Of course, they couldn't stay all day and early that evening the four said their good-byes.  
  
As they were leaving, Sammy suddenly piped up. "Come back and visit any time Heero. You're the best baby-sitter ever!" he declared, waving good-bye with a huge grin on his face.  
  
Heero smiled a little, waving back as he and Lita headed toward down the street. "You know, I'm glad we came today."  
  
Lita smiled. "I'm glad. You did make friends with Sammy awful fast. Why didn't you tell me you were so good with kids?" She elbowed him.  
  
He shrugged. "I don't know that I'm all that good with kids. But I do know that if I had never been trained, I could have turned out just like him...."  
  
Lita kissed his cheek. "I think you're more like him then you think." 


	17. Surrender on all Fronts

Oh bother.I don't own these characters.  
  
Believe it or not, I'm not dead yet! I'm just swamped under piles of term papers and finals here in a couple of weeks. That, and I wasn't sure how to carry on this part.I have a bad habit of thinking ahead to far. ^_^; So, to make up for my poor showing as of late, I offer to you an enlightened Rei and a humbled Wufei.and a promise that Mina will come around too.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
Lita opened the door to the shrine, only to find one rather steamed Rei standing behind it.  
  
"It's about time. Where have you been all day? I'm not your personal secretary you know."  
  
Lita frowned. "First of all, it's none of your business where we've been all day. And what is this about being a secretary?"  
  
"Heero got a call while you were gone. Quatre Something-or-other Winner. He wanted you to call him back as soon as possible. Just so you know, I don't plan on taking all these phone messages for you."  
  
"Hn," Heero replied. "Can I at least use your phone then?"  
  
Rei crossed her arms over her chest. "If you have too."  
  
"Well, I do have too." So saying, Heero went to retrieve the phone, and promptly shut himself into the room Lita was staying in.  
  
Rei rolled her eyes, heading for the kitchen, Lita following along behind. "Listen Rei.I'm sorry. Asking you to do this for me.it wasn't right."  
  
Rei shook her head. "What's done is done. He's here and I'm not so rude as to tell him to take a hike."  
  
"It means a lot to me to have him here.but not if it's going to cost me my friendship with you Rei."  
  
"No!" Rei exclaimed, waving her arms. "I didn't mean for it to seem like that. I won't stop being your friend. It's just that Heero kinda rubs me the wrong way, if you get my drift."  
  
Lita hopped up on the counter. "Yeah.I know he's bristly at times. But he's an awful loveable porcupine once you get to know him."  
  
"I have my doubts about that," Rei said in reply. "But seriously.I am curious as to what activity could possibly keep him occupied all day.."  
  
Lita sweatdropped. She couldn't tell Rei about the love they'd shared the previous night and telling her about the babysitting would like embarrass Heero to no end.  
  
"Well?"  
  
"Um.well.we spent the day with Serena." She then proceeded to tell the tale of the afternoon.  
  
"Heero.babysitting?" Rei said, more then a little dumbfounded. Her expression quickly hardened into a slight glare. "That's so totally not fair! Last time I babysat Sammy, he filled my shoes with gum. I couldn't get them off for a week!"  
  
Lita choked back a laugh. The thought of Rei dancing around trying to shake off shoes full of sticky gum was just a little amusing.  
  
Rei was just about to comment on the lack of humor in the situation when she was abruptly cut off.  
  
"The others will be here tomorrow."  
  
"Others?" Rei asked sharply, turning to look at Heero who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen. "What others?"  
  
"My friends," he said simply.  
  
"How many others?"  
  
"Four."  
  
"I'm not running a hotel here. You're going to have to tell your friends to find someplace else to stay," she said coldly.  
  
He raised his eyebrow slightly. "As a matter of fact, they won't be staying here and neither will I. I'll be moving in with them."  
  
"You're.leaving?" Rei suddenly felt guilty. Was he leaving because of her?  
  
Heero nodded. "It's best we stay together."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"If you'll excuse us, I need to talk to Lita."  
  
"Oh, of course.." Rei answered, waving her hand towards the doorway.  
  
Lita gave an apologetic smile at the interruption before following Heero back to her room. "Heero.what's going on?"  
  
"The mission is over. All that's left can be handled by the regular soldiers we fought with. Some damage has been done.it will take a while to get everything back to the way it was. In the meantime, the others will be coming here. We'll get a couple rooms in the hotel until Quarter finds something a little more permanent." He paused for a moment. "They know about Relena.they're coming here to help me make sure nothing happens to you."  
  
"Am.am I in trouble?"  
  
"I don't know.but if Zechs gets involved, you very well could be and it's our job to protect you. That's part of the reason I'm leaving. Normally, a bodyguard would stay with the guarded. But in this case, that's a disadvantage. Zechs and I.we're very much enemies and he knows I hated Relena. Undoubtedly, this puts me at the top of the suspect list. If he thinks I'm associated with you, you'll be dragged into it too.which is exactly what we're tying to avoid. Not to mention it relieves the strain between you and Rei created by my being here."  
  
Lita sighed. "This whole thing is just so complicated..You just got here, and you're going to have to leave again.won't I see you at all?"  
  
"Maybe in passing on the street, but if that happens you're to show no signs of recognition. I know it won't be easy.but it's better for me to distance myself and know you're safe then to be with you knowing I could be putting you in danger."  
  
"I appreciate your efforts," she said, smiling sadly. "I only hope nothing happens because of all this."  
  
"Don't worry. It'll be alright."  
  
So it was.for a few hours anyway. Next morning, Lita was out helping Rei sweep up the courtyard when she heard a voice call out. "Hey Lita! Long time, no see!"  
  
She turned her head, looking back toward the shrine's entrance. "Duo!" she cried. "You're all here!" She waved at the four pilots, all uniformed identically to the way Heero had been when he came.  
  
"Safe and sound," he grinned, as the group made their way toward her.  
  
"Just a minute and I'll let Heero know you're here."  
  
"No need," Heero said, making him presence known as he walked up behind Lita. "I could hear Duo's big mouth from all the way inside."  
  
"Aww.be nice Heero," Duo pouted.  
  
Lita laughed. "Let me introduce you guys." She grabbed Rei's sleeve and pulled her over. "Everyone, this is my friend Rei Hino. Rei.here's the others. The one with the braid, that's Duo Maxwell. He's the hyper one."  
  
"I am not hyper.well, not all the time." he said. "Pleasure to meet you Rei.Lita didn't tell us her friends were so pretty."  
  
Rei blushed. "Well.thank you."  
  
"Just like Maxwell to hit on a girl right away.stupid Death."  
  
"That's God of Death to you Wu-man."  
  
"GRRR.don't call me Wu-man!"  
  
"God of Death?" Rei looked confused.  
  
"His nickname," Lita answered, sweatdropping as Quatre tried to interfere in the shouting match going on.  
  
"Oh." Rei wondered how a god of death could be so happy. Somehow that just seemed.wrong.  
  
Seeing that Duo and Wufei weren't going to cooperate with Quatre, she went over and gave them each a tiny electric shock. "Now.behave or you get worse next time. Understood?"  
  
"Yes," the two chorused together.  
  
"Good. Now then, the blonde is Quatre Raberba Winner.he's the kind one."  
  
Quatre smiled. "Nice to meet you Miss Rei."  
  
"Just Rei please. You're Lita's employer aren't you?"  
  
He nodded. "That's right. We were quite lucky that we've been able to have her services."  
  
"Quatre," Lita said, blushing a little.  
  
"Sorry," he said with a sheepish smile.  
  
Smiling, "Lita continued. "The one with the funny bangs is Trowa Barton."  
  
There was a pause.a rather long one in which Trowa nodded. "He doesn't say much," Heero said.  
  
"So I see," Rei replied.  
  
"The crabby one with black hair is Chang Wufei," Lita continued.  
  
"I am not crabby. Onna.I bet you can't get a turkey," he said, staring at Rei.  
  
"Then what do you call it when someone goes shopping and buys a turkey? Tap dancing on a plastic cup?"  
  
"Stupid onna.not that kind of turkey."  
  
Rei growled. "You did not just call me stupid.you.you."  
  
"He means a bowling turkey," Lita interjected, hoping to avoid another altercation.  
  
Rei stopped suddenly. "Bowling?" She then doubled over laughing. "Bowling is a game for geeks!"  
  
"ONNA! You dare mock Chang Wufei?"  
  
"You better believe it turkey boy!"  
  
"INJUSTICE!" Wufei whipped out his katana, which the Shinto priestess easily parried with her broom.  
  
"Eat dust turkey boy," Rei said. So the battle commenced. The clash of metal against wood was drowned out by the high volume of the voices screeching insults at each other.  
  
Meanwhile, as the battle raged around the courtyard, Duo went up to Lita to ask her some questions about Rei.only to stop when he caught something glinting off her finger. "Hey, what's that?" He grabbed her hand, looking shocked. "Lita! How could you?"  
  
"Me? How could I what?"  
  
"We all know you and Heero, well.but then this! You went and got engaged behind his back!"  
  
"Stupid," Heero said in his typical flat tone of voice. "I gave it to her."  
  
"Oh, well that's ok then," Duo said. He was about to start asking his questions when it sunk in. "Wait.you.her.Oh my god! Hey everybody, Heero's getting married!" Duo yelled.  
  
Everyone, including Wufei, turned to look at Heero. "Thanks Duo." he muttered.  
  
Just as everyone was about to congratulate him, there was a loud thumping noise. Rei, noticing Wufei's distraction at finding out his friend was engaged and his subsequent dropping of his katana, proceeded to make her move and began thumping him on the head with her broom. "Now give up!" Rei said.  
  
"Never!" Wufei yelled, trying to dodge the hits to the head. "INJUSTICE!"  
  
"You let your guard down turkey boy.now surrender!"  
  
Growling, he finally caved. "Alright, alright.I'm weak, I'm weak.."  
  
Rei smiled smugly, pulling her broom back from his head.  
  
Wufei stood up, brushing broom straw and dust from his hair. "Damn you Lita.why didn't you tell me about her?"  
  
"And spoil your fun Wufei?"  
  
Grumbling, he returned his katana to its place. "Maxwell.this is your fault. I will get you for this.later. But first, what is all this business about Yuy getting married?"  
  
"It's true!"  
  
"I feel sorry for the dumb onna who agreed to marry him."  
  
"Watching who you're calling a dumb onna Wufei." Lita said, glaring.  
  
"You mean.." He looked at Lita, then at Heero, and then back at Lita. "NO! You mean you're going to be hanging around permanently?"  
  
"That's right Wufei!" Grinning happily, she pounced on him, proceeding to give the already ego-bruised pilot a noogie.  
  
Seeing the irate, indignant look on his face, the remaining pilots.Heero and Trowa included.laughed.  
  
Even Rei had to smile. This group was certainly odd.bristly, crabby, silent, hyper, and kind. But the more she thought about it, the more it seemed these young men weren't too different from the scouts themselves. Serena and Mina could definitely be hyper.and Haruka could be very short tempered. Well, I can too at times Rei admitted to herself. Ami and Michiru were kind, and Hotaru and Pluto easily fit the silent type. As for Lita, she was kind of a conglomerate. Well, really, they were all conglomerates really. She was broken out of her revere by Wufei's irate rantings about his hair.  
  
"Sorry about the.interruption," Quatre apologized. "We'll be going now."  
  
"Wait." Rei said. These were Lita's friends. Anyway, there weren't really that bad.once you got to know them. "I've got a couple empty rooms, if you guys don't mind sharing."  
  
"Rei.?"  
  
She smiled. "I mean, you're all friends of Lita's.so.."  
  
Everyone looked at the unofficial leader. Heero didn't really think it was a good idea to stay, but refusing her invitation might offend her. Then again, maybe if they were all here, it might actually be better. Having someone around all the time should avoid the possibility of her running into Zechs by herself, which wouldn't be good either. "We accept.thank you," he finally said.  
  
Lita poked Heero. "I thought you said that wasn't a good idea," she whispered.  
  
"This way has it's advantages. Trust me?"  
  
She nodded. "I do." 


	18. The Many Moods of Heero

In the term of my absence, I have not attained rights to any of the characters in the following. (This includes a minor reference to Yu-Yu- Hakusho at the end.) The only thing I own is Phazer Wars. If by chance a place with such a name exists, well.I've never heard of it. But if there is, I don't own that either.  
  
I'm afraid I must start this update with a LARGE apology to all people who have been reading my story. No, I'm not discontinuing. I'm apologizing for the really, really long time it's been since my last update. After I got through with finals, I fully intended to get a lot done during my vacation. However, life wasn't so kind to me. The second day of my break, I went on antibiotics for a respiratory infection, which lasted until Christmas. Meanwhile, I was working, we had company up until New Years, and lately my mom has been feeling bad so I've been helping her around the house. Needless to say I haven't gotten any of my projects updated. However, I did come up with a rather interesting idea for later in the story. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just say that sometimes help comes from the most unlikely places..  
  
A great BIG thank you to all those who have read and especially to those who have reviewed! As a thank you for your continued support and your tolerance of my rather untimely updates, I offer you a longer then usual chapter. ^_^  
  
Enjoy!  
  
The passage of a few minutes found the group inside the shrine, splitting up their own ways. Rei and Lita were waiting for the pilots in the "study room", so named because the girls always studied in that particular room when meeting at Rei's for a group study session. After Quatre changed the hotel reservation to four people for one night, the guys went and congregated outside Lita's room, trying to decide who would sleep where.  
  
"I'm not sharing with Wufei," Duo announced.  
  
"As if that was hard to guess," Heero said. "I think it would be best if you shared with Quatre in the room across the hall. Trowa can share the room next door with Wufei."  
  
"Is that an order?"  
  
"No, but your only other choice is to share with Trowa."  
  
"Well that's no good. I need to room with someone I can talk too."  
  
"Yes, we know Duo," Heero sighed. "So is everyone agreeable to these arrangements?"  
  
Everyone nodded.  
  
"Say.what about you?"  
  
"What about me?" Heero asked, rather annoyed.  
  
"Well, where are you sleeping? As if we didn't know.." Duo grinned, elbowing Heero.  
  
"That is none of your business," he glared back.  
  
"Well, I for one don't think it's a good idea."  
  
"Duo, hard as it may be for you to believe, there are more important things on my mind then that."  
  
"Oh, you mean like picking a date for the wedding hmm?" Duo grinned.  
  
"What is there to decide? We'll get married when my services are no longer needed."  
  
"Um, Heero," Quatre ventured, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"  
  
"Yeah, really. You could be an old man by that point!" Duo exclaimed.  
  
"And you have a better idea?" Heero asked.  
  
"Uh, yeah. Like maybe get married as soon as possible."  
  
"No."  
  
"Well gosh darn it Heero, why not?" Duo demanded. "You love her don't you?"  
  
"What a ridiculous question. Of course I do."  
  
"Then why can't you get married sooner then retirement?"  
  
"It isn't as if I want it that way, but I don't see any choice," Heero shrugged. "I won't marry her only to get called up to go on a mission a week later and get myself killed."  
  
"Well, that is a valid point," Quatre said.  
  
"Yuy's a coward, that's what," Wufei said.  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"You heard me. I said you're a coward."  
  
"How am I being a coward by trying to protect someone?"  
  
"He's right you know," Duo said. "I mean, you could be called up on a mission and die next week. Not that your dying is very likely.. After all, it would probably take 25 atomic bombs to even put a dent in your hide."  
  
"Very funny," Heero retorted.  
  
Trowa straightened up from where he'd been leaning against the wall. "I understand your point of view Heero. You think she'd hurt less if she was left a grieving fiancé rather then a grieving widow."  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"But look at it from her point of view. If you were to live as an engaged couple for a period of time, then you died on a mission leaving behind the fiancé, how would Lita see it? I believe that all of us would feel duty bound to tell her why you kept putting off marriage. The question is would she view it as you do, as a form of protection. It is also quite possible she might wonder whether you ever intended to marry her or whether you even loved her at all. Both are quite valid questions to ask to oneself in the light of such events actually taking place."  
  
"Very true," Quatre agreed. "Think about it Heero. If you were her and she was you, wouldn't you wonder about love if the marriage was, well to be frank, postponed indefinitely?"  
  
Heero frowned, thinking for a minute or two. "I hadn't thought of it that way," he finally admitted grudgingly. "But at the very least, you have to give me until after this mess with Relena's death has been cleared up. I have too much think about without adding wedding plans in on top of it."  
  
"I think that is a fair request," Trowa said.  
  
"Hey you guys....You trying to hide from us scary womenfolk?" Lita asked with a grin after poking her head around the corner.  
  
Heero shook his head. "Just trying to make sleeping arrangements. You know how hard it is to get certain parties to co-operate," he said, looking pointedly at Duo.  
  
"Hey, what are you looking at me for? All I said was you'd be an old man.." He was quickly interrupted by a glare from Heero that said quite plainly 'leak any more of the previous conversation and you'll be subject to sudden, instant, and even immediate death' (not necessarily in that order). Duo coughed nervously. "I mean, you'd bean old men if you threw clipboards at them during mission briefings."  
  
Lita laughed, picturing the scientists Heero had told her about being assailed by clipboards. "You do talk about the weirdest things sometimes. Anyway, if you guys are done then you can follow me. Rei and I are trying to make arrangements so the rest of our friends can meet the rest of you."  
  
Heero nodded and motioned everyone to follow him. "Lucky for you she bought that lame story about clipboards," he muttered under his breath to Duo.  
  
Duo sweatdropped. "Hey, it was the best I could do on the spur of the moment," he whispered back.  
  
"That's why you're an idiot," Wufei mumbled.  
  
"I love you too Wu-man." Duo turned around and stuck his tongue out at Wufei.  
  
"Cut it out," Heero hissed under his breath before Wufei could give his customary shout of injustice.  
  
"Hey Rei, I found the lost boys," Lita called out, leading the troop into the "study room".  
  
"Good. Now we can get on with our plans," Rei answered.  
  
"What plans?" Quatre asked politely as they all sat down around the table.  
  
"To get together and do something so everyone can meet everyone else," she said.  
  
"Why do we have to do anything?" Heero asked.  
  
"Well.um.." Rei paused a moment to think, wondering how she could answer his question without making a comment about his anti-social behavior.  
  
"We're soldiers, not social butterflies," he said in his typically flat voice.  
  
"Stop teasing Rei," Lita said.  
  
"Who's teasing?"  
  
"You are Heero Yuy," she answered, poking his nose. "Now stop being such a trouble maker."  
  
"Me, a trouble maker?"  
  
"Yes you." She directed her attention back to Rei. "Ignore him. He's intentionally being difficult."  
  
"You sure about that?" Rei asked unsurely. "He seems pretty serious to me."  
  
"I'm positive." Shaking her head, she looked over at Heero, who was sitting on her right. "Think you're being funny do you?"  
  
"Funny? I'm never funny."  
  
"That's true enough," Duo said. "I'm surprised he even knows the word.didn't think it was in his vocabulary."  
  
Wufei snickered, despite himself. "I have to admit that was funny Maxwell."  
  
"Why thank you," Duo grinned.  
  
"Please," Heero said, rolling his eyes.  
  
"Please what?" Lita asked.  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "Now who's teasing?"  
  
"Me, tease? I don't know what you're talking about." She did her best to look serious, but she wound up giggling anyway. "Now you either behave or I'll kick you out myself."  
  
"You wouldn't."  
  
"I most certainly would.not. But I'll tell you what I would do."  
  
"And what's that?"  
  
"I'd make you share a room with Duo.and Wufei."  
  
Heero cringed.  
  
"Aww, it's not that bad buddy," Duo said, slinging an arm around Heero's shoulders. An arm which was immediately shrugged off.  
  
"I have two choices: act sociable or face a fate worse then death. How not bad can that be?"  
  
"At least you have an easy choice," Quatre offered helpfully. "I'm sure everyone would prefer you act sociable rather then threatening Duo and Wufei endlessly."  
  
"Oh alright," Heero said in an annoyed tone. "But don't blame when we have to play tea party because I had to be sociable."  
  
"Heero! We don't play tea party!"  
  
Heero's laughter was interrupted by a thwack to the head from the cushion upon which Lita had been sitting.  
  
"You take that back this instant!"  
  
"Ok, ok.. My apologies lady."  
  
"Lady, as in singular?"  
  
"Well, Rei isn't the one who hit me with the pillow now is she?"  
  
"You.you.take that!" Lita gave him another sound thump on the head with her cushion. "You are hopeless Heero, you know that? You are totally hopeless."  
  
He ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to make sure it was back to normal. He then waited until she had resituated herself on her cushion before leaning over in her direction. "That isn't what you said the other night," he whispered in her ear.  
  
Lita felt her face turn a bright red while her jaw dropped in disbelief. Such talk from the Perfect Soldier.. "I have half a mind to hit you again."  
  
"I don't know about everyone else, but I'm lost," Duo said, pouting. "I don't wanna be left out. Share?"  
  
"I'm not good at sharing," Heero said bluntly. "So don't ask."  
  
"Aww.please? Can't you tell what's going on, pretty please?"  
  
"That is none of you business Duo Maxwell," Lita said, attempting to look aloof by fixing her eyes on the upper right corner of the wall she was facing.  
  
"Nuts," Duo sighed. "I think I liked Heero better when he was laughing."  
  
"This is no laughing matter Duo," she said, a quite serious expression on her face.  
  
"Oh not you too!" he groaned. "Heero's a bad influence. Takes all the fun out of people."  
  
"If that's true, then how come you still have those jokes that pop up all the time?" Wufei asked.  
  
"Unfortunately, fun was so rooted in him I couldn't kill it. Believe me, I tried," Heero said.  
  
"Geez.don't have to be serious all the time," Duo complained.  
  
"No, but we do now," Lita said. "It's not easy to find something that a group of diverse people will actually all participate in. Not to mention finding space for 14 people."  
  
"Fourteen people?" Wufei yelled.  
  
"Pipe down you turkey. And yes, 14 people. Me and Rei, Ami, Serena, Mina, Hotaru, Setsuna, Haruka, and Michiru. Plus all five of you," she answered, counting off on her fingers. "Nine of us plus five of you equals 14 unless I'm mistaken."  
  
"No, you're right," Rei affirmed. "Fourteen it is."  
  
"Hmm," Quatre said, thinking out loud. "Have any ideas yet?"  
  
"To be honest, no," she sighed. "More like ideas on what we shouldn't do."  
  
"I hope the word mall appears on that list."  
  
"Don't worry Heero, we decided against the mall. Lita and I thought I would be too crowded and everybody would want to look at different things, which totally defeats the purpose of getting together."  
  
"That and we didn't want to be embarrassed by anything Wufei might say or do," Lita added.  
  
"I am offended you think I'd make a scene about anything. However, since we're not going to that onna infested mall, I guess I can forgive you."  
  
"You're so generous Wufei. I'm overwhelmed by your apology," she said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"We thought about maybe doing some sport," Rei continued. "You know, go the park and play volleyball or basketball or something. Problem is, we couldn't decide on something everyone would want to play. That, and Serena is such a klutz she'd probably end up causing the game to go awry after tripping over her own two feet."  
  
"At least you know some things to avoid," Quatre said. "But it's nice that you're trying to find an activity that includes everyone."  
  
"I've got it!" Lita exclaimed. "Phazer Wars!"  
  
"War? You won't play basketball but you'll engage in a war?" Heero asked. "And I thought Duo was weird."  
  
Lita laughed. "No, no. Not a real war silly. It's sort of a laser tag place. It opened about three months before I left Juuban. It's prefect because we can leave two people out for part of the fight."  
  
"Just what are you talking about?" Rei asked.  
  
"Well, guess I better start at the beginning. The cooking club catered a breakfast for the school council, so as thanks they took all of us Phazer Wars right after it opened. They have a whole ton of rooms, each with a different set up. At the beginning, one person from each team is chosen to be the 'prisoner'. After getting their equipment, they're placed somewhere in one of the rooms. The two teams then have to make their way through the rooms. The goal is to find the person captured from your team and get out without getting 'killed'."  
  
"Hey, that sounds great!" Duo grinned.  
  
"I admit I wouldn't mind it," Rei said. "But what about the others?"  
  
"I think all of us would be agreeable to that," Heero said.  
  
"I know Haruka will go for it, and if she does it then Michiru will come too. Setsuna would probably like a chance to just 'act like a kid' for a day and Mina won't care about being in the dark where she might run into a guy. Serena will want to prove she can do as well as you, so I figure that Hotaru and Ami will be the two that get to be prisoners.that is if they don't mind," Lita said.  
  
"Sounds like a plan to me," Rei said. "Now all we have to do is set up a day and time. Only problem we have is to convince Mina that our resident porcupine's quills aren't all that prickly."  
  
"Oh yeah.forgot about that for a minute," Lita sighed. "She's not exactly his biggest fan."  
  
"I would certainly hope not," Heero said.  
  
They were interrupted by the sound of the phone. "Excuse me," Rei said as she stood up. "I'll be right back so don't tear this place up ok?" She smiled and went to go answer the phone. Upon re-entering the room a few minutes later, she found Lita being smooshed between two cushion wielding warriors. "Hello.if you can stop your match here for a minute?" Rei asked. Shaking her head, she handed the phone to Heero. "It's for you."  
  
"Me?" he asked, raising an eyebrow. "Hello?..Yes..(long pause while person on the line babbles)..Accepted..So I've been told..No. I hear it quite frequently..That's right..Yes..Bye." Heero handed the phone back to Rei.  
  
"What was that all about?" Lita asked.  
  
"It was Mina. She apologized."  
  
"It took all that for her to apologize?" Duo asked incredulously.  
  
"That and she asked about my friends."  
  
Rei rolled her eyes. "She would.as boy crazy as ever. Now then.I'm going to go make some calls and set up our little 'war'. When I come back, I sincerely hope that everybody is still in one piece." She made a point of staring at Duo and Wufei, who were both trying to act innocent. Mumbling to herself she left the room.  
  
"Time in!" Duo cried, attempting to whap Wufei with his cushion. Only he missed, and hit Lita instead.who was still between the two.  
  
"Oh dear," Quatre fretted. "This isn't going to be pretty."  
  
"DUO!" she yelled, grabbing Wufei's cushion out of his hands and thumping him quite soundly.  
  
"INJUSTICE!" Wufei yelled back. "That's my cushion!"  
  
"Oh shut up," she said, continuing her pummeling of poor Duo.  
  
"Heero, help me!" he said, doing his best to find off the attacks.  
  
"Sorry. I'm busy."  
  
"BUSY?!?! Doing what?"  
  
"Trying to keep Wufei in his place."  
  
Lita and Duo looked at each other, pausing in their struggle to turn around, or sit up as the case may be, to see just exactly what Heero meant. What they saw was an irate Wufei failing wildly. "Um, Wufei.what's your problem?" Duo asked.  
  
"YUY WON'T LET GO OF MY SHIRT. MY CUSHION GOT STOLEN AND I'M MISSING OUT ON GIVING YOU A GOOD THUMPING. WHAT DO YOU THINK MY PROBLEM IS?"  
  
"I think Wufei's the one that needs help," Lita whispered to Duo. "Keep Heero distracted for a second will you?"  
  
"Well, sure.but why?"  
  
"You'll see," she grinned. Stretching a little, she moved over closer toward the wall.  
  
"Where do you think you're going?" Heero asked.  
  
"Out of the line of fire. You wouldn't want me to get hurt now would you?" she asked in nice, sweet voice.  
  
"Hn." I know better then that, he said to himself. She's up to something. He got distracted by his thoughts when he felt someone poking him. "Duo, what is it now?" Sighing, he turned to face the poking pilot.  
  
"I'm missing out too you know. Wu-man and I have a score to settle. Our match got interrupted."  
  
"AND YOU CALLED ME WU-MAN AGAIN!" the still flailing pilot screeched. "INJUSTICE!"  
  
"Wufei.if you don't shut the hell up I'm going to do it for you before you destroy my hearing," Heero threatened.  
  
"I'd like to see you try," Wufei scowled, followed by a muttered string of curses.  
  
Meanwhile, Lita had managed to sneak up behind Heero while he was busy with Wufei and Duo. When she was quite sure he was paying no attention to her, she pushed up against him, throwing her arms around his neck. "Surprise!"  
  
Now, Heero knew she'd been up to something.he just hadn't been expecting that. The end result was that he let go of Wufei's shirt. "What was that for?" he demanded.  
  
"I'm not allowed to say hi?" she asked.  
  
"You can say hi all you want. But what exactly did you intend to accomplish by doing this?"  
  
"Help you?"  
  
"Me? I think you're confused. Wufei's the one that got free." He pointed to said pilot, who was currently engaged in a wrestling/cushion thumping match.  
  
"Well, yeah...but I freed your hand too. I'm sure it was getting cramped with all that work of keeping Wufei in check."  
  
"Maybe, maybe not. It's not really that important. But thank you for caring."  
  
"Silly. Of course I care." Lita smiled and kissed his cheek before disentangling herself. Which she did none too soon I might add. For at that very moment, a large fluffy cushion went sailing across the room and smacked right into Trowa.who fell over into Quatre.  
  
Trowa, in a rare moment of participation in a childish indulgence such as a cushion fight, picked up the cushion and tossed it back. Unfortunately, Trowa did it with one hand while he was helping Quatre to sit up. Given the size of the cushion, throwing became rather awkward and so it went smack into Heero's head. The next thing you know, everyone was engaged in all at war.  
  
Cushions went flying across the room. People got slammed, thumped, whacked, smooshed.anything you could do with a cushion, well.it got done. Along with cushion weaponry, there were also bouts of tickling, scrambling, wrestling, and of course, laughing. It was this kind of general chaos Rei found when she re-entered the room.  
  
Wufei was face down on the floor underneath a cushion on which was seated on Duo Maxwell. Trowa was in the process of trying to thump Duo with a cushion, but was experiencing difficulties due to the fact that Lita was tugging on the cushion from behind him. While she was tugging, Heero was going after her feet. As for Quatre, well, he was thumping Wufei on the head with his cushion. "What has been going on here?" Rei demanded from the screeching, laughing gaggle on the floor.  
  
"Um.having fun?" Lita asked, grinning nervously.  
  
"It was my fault," Duo said. "I sorta re-started the um...bout.after you left and I accidentally hit Lita and then.and then, well you know. One thing led to another and soon we were all over the place. So um.you know.we didn't really mean to make a mess.."  
  
Rei desperately tried to keep her stern expression on, but the harder she tried, the less it worked. Duo's apology sound very much like something Serena might say after getting caught reading Rei's latest comic book rather then studying. Not to mention how utterly ridiculous they all looked. They were a tangled mass consisting of guilty looks, wrinkled clothes, flushed faces and messy hair. This last applied quite well to Trowa, whose bangs had somehow gotten even weirder looking then normal. They were now split on either side of his face, sticking out like they had been starched. Finally, Rei couldn't hold it in any longer and she burst out laughing.  
  
"What a minute.I thought you were mad.," Duo asked, confused.  
  
"Well, I was.until I saw that." Everyone looked in the direction she was pointing and then proceeded to join Rei in her laughter.  
  
"What's so funny?" Trowa asked, noting that everyone was looking at him. "Wait.don't tell me.it's my hair isn't it?"  
  
"How'd you guess?" Duo asked.  
  
"Maybe because I can actually see out of both eyes. I suppose I better fix this before you all die laughing." So excusing himself, he disappeared to find a mirror and readjust his hair. Meanwhile, everyone else was tidying up the room, as well as giving themselves a quick tidying up.  
  
When Trowa came back, Rei made her announcement. "I set it all up. Saturday afternoon at 1:00."  
  
"That is if we live that long," Heero commented.  
  
"Stop being such a pessimist," Lita said. "You wouldn't want to die before your time now would you?"  
  
"Of course not. However, you have to admit going through this every day is going to bring one near death by the end of the week."  
  
"I'm beginning to agree with you," Rei laughed. "At the very least, the shrine might collapse on us."  
  
"And what if we do die Heero? At least we'll die happy," Duo said, grinning.  
  
"You are entirely too happy to be a god of death," Wufei grumbled.  
  
"Aww.but what about that one girl, in that one show.you know, the blue haired girl who rides the oar thingy.Button, Boatin, no that's not right.Botan! That's it, Botan! She ferries around the souls of dead people and she's happy."  
  
"Damn cartoons. She's not real you stupid, braided.monkey."  
  
"Maybe so, but at least I'm a cute one."  
  
Lita rolled her eyes. "You asked for it Rei, and you got it. I just hope you can live with two older 'little' brothers...along with 3 older 'big' brothers."  
  
"I think I can manage," she grinned. After all, having five "brothers" so far didn't seem to be much different then have eight "sisters". 


	19. Games of Reason

Surprised or not, I don't claim ownership of any of the following characters, though I wish I could.  
  
Yes, yes.I know it's been forever and a year since my last posting. Unfortunately, my independent study class has been occupying a lot of my time, I've had papers to do and I had midterms this week. Not to mention the hordes of reading I have in my English class. So while I've been thinking about this, I just haven't had time to sit down and type it out. I will do my best to provide you with a decent chapter that will make your waiting worth the while.  
  
Thanks to all of you good readers who are kind and patient enough to put up with my random tardiness. ^_^  
  
Enjoy!  
  
Setsuna stood, arms crossed in front of her, tapping fingers on her arm. "I can honestly say I have never been more embarrassed in my life," she said, looking at all the people seated around one of the Crown's largest tables. "I came along anticipating that I would have a good time.not playing baby- sitter for a group of two year olds."  
  
"Well some of us are two year olds," Rei said, looking pointedly at Serena.  
  
"Meanie!" she retorted, cramming a cookie in her mouth.  
  
"Meatball head!"  
  
"That is quite enough!" Setsuna said firmly.  
  
"Well, maybe I don't always act the most mature in the group," Serena conceded. "But it wasn't my fault we got kicked out." She frowned, looking at the guilty party.  
  
"I was being chased by that male onna. It was self-defense," Wufei said curtly.  
  
"Oh come on Wu-man. I thought girls were weak. Why would you need to defend yourself? Surely one girl couldn't do much damage," Duo teased.  
  
"That male onna is the only non-weak onna I've ever met. I would rather not run into her in the dark again."  
  
Their argument was interrupted by a bouncy red head with a ponytail. "Hey guys!" she called out, waving as she made her way over to the table.  
  
"Hi Lizzie!" Serena waved back.  
  
"Andrew told me you guys were here." Smiling, she grabbed a chair and pulled it up to the table, sitting down. "Mind introducing me to your friends here? Don't remember seeing them around before."  
  
"That's 'cause we just got here this week. Oh, I'm Duo Maxwell by the way," he said. "And they are Trowa Barton, Quatre Winner, Chang Wufei, and Heero Yuy," he added, pointing in turn to his friends.  
  
"I'm Lizzie Furuhata."  
  
"Furuhata? Isn't that Andrew's last name?" Quatre asked.  
  
"Yeah," Lizzie grinned. "Andy's my older brother."  
  
"And he wants to know why you're sitting down on the job."  
  
Lizzie leaned back and looked up. "Aww, come on Andy. Just a few minutes, please?"  
  
He laughed. "Ok, ok. It is kind of slow right now, so I'll make you an offer.15 minutes or until we get another customer ok?"  
  
"Ok!" she grinned.  
  
"Well, I better be back to work. See you guys later." With a smile and a wave, he headed off.  
  
"So.," Lizzie said expectantly. "You gonna tell me what was going on before I interrupted?"  
  
"Um.I'm not sure that's such a good idea," Lita said.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, how would you feel about being the only people kicked out of Phazer Wars?"  
  
"You WHAT?" Lizzie exclaimed. "Lita, I thought you'd gotten over the karate maniac stuff."  
  
"It wasn't my fault! It was his!" she exclaimed, pointing at Wufei.  
  
"I told you it was self-defense. Besides, who put me on the same team with that male onna? Wasn't me."  
  
"Well.no. I guess that was my fault," Lita said.  
  
"So.are you gonna tell me?" Lizzie asked.  
  
"Well, I don't think anybody knows what really happened except Wufei and Haruka. But I can tell you how they wound up on the same team." After giving a brief explanation about how she'd met the guys and how they wound up here, she began the tale of the outing turned disaster. "See, Wufei.he has.gee, how do I say this nicely.."  
  
"He's a rude, egotistical, turkey-loving woman hater," Rei said bluntly.  
  
"Really?" Lizzie asked, surprised. "And he's so cute too.."  
  
Wufei promptly turned his head in the opposite direction, while Duo laughed. "That is not funny Maxwell," Wufei scowled.  
  
"Yeah it is..Chang Wufei, codename 'Cute'." Duo couldn't stop laughing.  
  
"MAXWELL!"  
  
"If you two could stop fighting for five seconds." Setsuna said, "I believe somebody was trying to talk."  
  
"Yeah and if you can't behave you know what happens.right boys?" Lita asked.  
  
"Yes ma'am," Duo said, looking apologetic.  
  
"Wufei?"  
  
"Oh all right." Glaring, he turned his attention to his drink.  
  
"Anyway," Lita sighed. "Where was I? Oh yeah, the teams. Rei and I planned the teams ahead of time so we could avoid arguments when we got to Phazer Wars. Well, we put Haruka and Wufei on the same team. Both of us though that maybe Haruka could intimidate Wufei into behaving for once."  
  
"And you thought this would happen in our lifetime?" Heero asked.  
  
"Well, It seemed like a good idea at the time," Lita said, defending herself.  
  
"So what happened?" Lizzie asked.  
  
"Well, everything was going fine. Then all of a sudden there were these crashing noises and shouting. The next thing you know, we were being shown the door."  
  
"It wouldn't have happened if somebody hadn't gotten trigger happy," Haruka said.  
  
"I was not trigger happy! I thought you were Duo.." Wufei's voice trailed off after receiving a glare.  
  
"You thought I was that clown??"  
  
"Haruka."Setsuna said warningly.  
  
"But Setsuna," Haruka said sweetly. "He thought I was a man.no less, the goofy man."  
  
"I thought you were a guy when I first met you," Serena said. "In fact, all of us who didn't know you thought you were a guy."  
  
"But.but.."  
  
"You know we love you Haruka," Michiru smiled. "Now if it's not too much trouble, perhaps Wufei would like to continue the story?"  
  
Looking rather surprised, he nodded. "Like Lita said, everything was going fine, but it is true that I tend to have a short temper. Well, Duo always picks on me for some unknown reason and when I heard his voice, I thought it would be a good chance to get back at him. I turned in the direction I thought his voice was coming from and fired. The next thing I heard wasn't Duo's voice. I heard a strangled choking followed by a loud stomping and felt somebody yanking on my hair as I tried to sneak away."  
  
"That was such a giveaway! I could tell after grabbing the hair of the person I ran into it was Wufei. I mean, nobody else in the group has a ponytail that small. Anyway, I could also tell he was nervous, leading to the conclusion that he was the one that shot me.and got me 'knocked out' of the game. Well, that and the fact that he said 'Oh shit' after I asked him just who the hell he was trying to pick off."  
  
"Oh my," Quatre said. "That would explain why I heard somebody run by screaming 'Die bastard, die!' at the top of their lungs."  
  
Duo cracked up. "Wu-man shot Haruka thinking it was me. Now that really is rich."  
  
"SHUT UP MAXWELL! Or I will poor the contents of your glass over your head!" Wufei said, outraged.  
  
"You wouldn't dare.."  
  
"Oh wouldn't I?" Wufei picked up the water-filled glass and dumped its contents out in a waterfall that dripped down Duo's face.  
  
Duo blinked and brushed some stray drops that caught in his eyelashes, before scowling. He was about to give a nice, biting comment when Wufei suddenly hunched over in his set, yelping.  
  
"What the." Duo said.  
  
"Damn onna," Wufei growled. "Kick me under the table will you.."  
  
"Rei!" Ami said, shocked. "You shouldn't be kicking people under the table, especially not in public."  
  
"But remember Ami, some of us are two year olds," Serena said giggling.  
  
"Oh shut up Serena," Rei scowled back.  
  
This little exchange was suddenly interrupted by a loud smack followed by a string of courses. Everyone turned and looked at the source of all the racket. There was Wufei spouting every bad world he knew, holding onto his head which was now washed in soda that was running down into his lap in sticky rivers.  
  
"Chang Wufei!" Setsuna said, huffing angrily. "I have had all I can take of your attitude and I refuse to let you ruin our day anymore. So eat leather." With that, Setsuna took out her purse and promptly bonked him on the head.  
  
Momentarily stunned by Setsuna's display of purse whacking, Ami looked over at Rei. "Now see what you've done. I told you not to kick him."  
  
"I didn't do it that time," Rei said.  
  
Ami raised an eyebrow.  
  
"What! I didn't do anything!"  
  
"I would like to interject on the lady's behalf," Duo said.  
  
"I'm glad you're going to confess," Hotaru smiling from her place between Duo and Haruka.  
  
"I KNEW IT!" Wufei cried.  
  
Duo coughed, mildly embarrassed. "Well, Ami told Rei not to kick you, but she didn't say anything about me not doing it."  
  
Wufei was about to make some comment about Duo being immature, when a hand thrust a handful of napkins over his shoulder.  
  
"Maybe you'd like to dry off a little?" a voice asked. Wufei turned around behind him and there stood Lizzie.  
  
"Thank you," he said gruffly, turning back around and taking the offered napkins.  
  
Seeing Wufei was embarrassed and fighting a losing battle to hide the slight blush on his face, Lita decided to step in and draw everyone's attention from the flustered pilot. "Say Lizzie, when did you disappear?"  
  
"Right after the drink went splash," she said, resuming her seat at the table. "I would've told you, but I don't think you would have heard me over your um.conversation."  
  
"It's very nice of you to overlook this outrageous behavior," Trowa said. "We apologize if we're being disruptive."  
  
"Oh no, not at all!" Lizzie said, waving her hands. "This place is a big hangout for the middle and high school crowds, so we get loud kids in here all the time. Besides, I love meeting new people and since you all are friends of the girls here, you're friends of mine. Oh shoot." she suddenly said, catching a glimpse at her watch. "I gotta get back to work." She put the chair back at the table she had borrowed it from. "Hope you come back to visit sometime," she said smiling, waving a good-bye as she headed back to work.  
  
"I like your friend Lizzie," Quatre said. "She seems nice."  
  
"She is," Serena nodded in agreement.  
  
"Oh, say Serena," Lizzie said, suddenly appearing again around "I forgot to tell you that we got the new Sailor V game this week. Thought you might wanna check it out." With a wave and a smile, she  
  
"She said the magic words," Rei groaned.  
  
"Magic words?" Quatre asked.  
  
"Serena loves video games."  
  
"I've told her more then once not to spend all her allowance here," Ami said, shaking her head. "She never listens to me. Then again, if she did, she wouldn't be Serena."  
  
"But you know, it has been a while since we've been here," Mina said, tapping her chin. "And I did get extra allowance this week.."  
  
Rei laughed. "You got extra allowance? How'd you manage that?"  
  
"It was probably the only way her parents could get her to give Artemis a bath," Haruka teased. "Last time I saw him, he was looking a little on the brown side."  
  
Mina stuck her tongue out. "It's not my fault. If he was your cat you wouldn't want to give him a bath either. But that wasn't the point anyway. I was just going to say that I wouldn't mind a few rounds in the arcade myself."  
  
"Not you too," Ami sighed. "Besides these games being an obvious waste of money, there is no intellectual stimulation."  
  
"They're not supposed to stimulate your mind Ami. It's just fun! Besides, even you can't deny that they improve eye-hand coordination."  
  
"Well.no.."  
  
Mina grinned in triumph. "So who else is up for some action?"  
  
"I'll go," Duo said.  
  
"That goes double for me," Rei said. "You have a thrashing coming to you after that stupid Sailor Smash game cheated and made me lose."  
  
"In that case you two are going to need supervision," Ami said.  
  
"Why don't we just all go over to the arcade?" Haruka asked. "I mean, I wouldn't mind taking down Wufei here a peg or two."  
  
"Is that a challenge onna?" he asked.  
  
"Sure is."  
  
"I think having everybody in one place is a good idea," Setsuna said. "It will allow Ami and I, as the responsible members of the party, to keep all of you little hoodlums in line."  
  
Rei was about to retort that she was in no way a hoodlum, when she caught the glint of laughter in Setsuna's eyes. "Yes mother," Rei grinned. Setsuna shook her head and stood up, sort of "herding" everyone toward the arcade.  
  
Everyone then made themselves comfortable in various places. Everyone that is except for two people who were nowhere to be found. Not that anybody was looking for them at that point in time. They were all busy either yelling at each other or at the cheating arcade games.  
  
Meanwhile, the Lita was tagging along beside Heero as he walked down the street. "Have something on your mind?" she asked.  
  
"What makes you think something's on my mind?"  
  
"Because you've seemed grouchier then normal today."  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Oh come on," she said. "You can talk to me."  
  
"I don't need a therapy session."  
  
"It's not therapy. Just thought it might help you to talk about it."  
  
Heero said nothing, and the two walked on in silence for a while. They eventually made their way to a large oak tree in the park.  
  
Lita flopped down on her back in the grass, Heero sitting down next to her. As he still didn't seem interested in conversing, she slowly felt herself dozing off. That is until she heard his voice. "Hmm?" she asked, sitting up and shaking her head to clear it. "Sorry, I guess I was falling asleep."  
  
"I said Zechs is bothering me."  
  
"Zechs is always bothering you. What's so new about that?"  
  
"What's new is I can't find him."  
  
"Can't find him?"  
  
"I have access to things. If I want, I can find out where just about anybody is and what they're doing. But Zechs seems to have dropped out of sight. That bothers me."  
  
"Well, so long as he's not bothering us I don't see what the problem is."  
  
"You wouldn't."  
  
"And just what does that mean?" she frowned.  
  
"It means that it's quite possible he's here now in disguise, under an assumed name."  
  
"WHAT?" she shrieked.  
  
"Ears," Heero said, covering his up with a grimace.  
  
"Sorry. But.but are you sure he's here?"  
  
"I said might be. I don't know. That's what bothers me. If I don't know what the enemy is up to, I can't plan accordingly. Instead of being a step ahead, I'm a step behind."  
  
Lita looked away, not sure what to say. Her mind was flooded with guilt, believing it to be her fault Heero had to go through all this. If she hadn't pulled that trigger..  
  
"This isn't your fault."  
  
Lita blinked. "Are you a mind reader now?"  
  
"No. But do you honestly think that by this time I wouldn't have some clue as to how your mind works?"  
  
"Well, I never thought about it actually," she said.  
  
"In any event, it was my choice to get involved. You didn't force me too."  
  
"I guess so, but.."  
  
"No buts. I'm doing this for you, for me, for us."  
  
Even with his vehement support behind his reasoning, he seemed worried and frustrated. Lita sighed, not sure what she could do, if anything, to cheer him up. She slipped her hand into his, wondering if it would help even a little. "For us," she repeated softly.  
  
Even if he was one step behind and shrouded in darkness, he knew he wasn't walking alone. 


	20. Disaster on all Fronts

Standard disclaimer applies: I swear under oath that I don't own any of these characters that appear in the story, except for any I might make up along the way.  
  
Well, here it is much, MUCH later then I wanted to be updating. After my last post before my spring break in March (when FFNet was going haywire, so some of you might not have seen that update.if not, check it out!), I thought I could get on a regular updating schedule after I got out of school.only it didn't happen. As a recent college grad, I am now working full time and due to family illness I have spent much of my free time doing household chores and such. (It's incredible how much laundry my family of four goes through in just one day). But now that things have settled down a little and I have time to think about my writing again, I hope to get on a somewhat regular schedule of updating. I can't promise certain times, but I will do my best to post more often then once every 3 months. (Such poor showings.I'm embarrassed.) So, that's something to look forward too for you all anyway. Also, look for one supernatural phenom to make an appearance in a couple of chapters. No more hints though, I don't want to give it away! A further note, this chapter for sure will be more angsty then usual and there will be a slight carryover to the upcoming two chapters or so. (Sorry.got move the plot along sometime though! ^_^) Oh, and no offense is intended to any and all fans of Chibi-Usa, aka Rini (since I'm using half Japanese and half English names) but I do kind of poke fun at her in this chapter...just a little.  
  
THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE WONDERUFL PEOPLE WHO HAVE READ AND REVIEWED THIS STORY. I hope my tardiness doesn't stop you from continuing to enjoy it. But anyway, I'm just happy if I've even made one person laugh.because that means I've been able to share my love of writing and enjoyment of this story in particular with someone else. Thank you for all your support, new and continued, and I look forward to your comments!  
  
Enjoy!  
  
"IT'S ABOUT TIME!" Rei huffed, walking up behind the silent pair sitting under the tree in the park. We've been looking for you two everywhere!"  
  
"We've been here the whole time," Heero responded in typical monotone fashion.  
  
"Well, I see that now," she said, coming around in front of them. "Now do you mind telling me why you ran off?"  
  
"Because we could."  
  
"Gee, and here I thought Heero had changed," Duo said, stepping up next to Rei.  
  
"Just how many of you are here?" Lita asked.  
  
"Only us," he replied. "There would have been three, if Wufei had come with us."  
  
"Serves him right having to go with Setsuna.we didn't have time for a rematch because we had to locate a couple strays," Rei said.  
  
Lita flushed guiltily. "Sorry.guess we should have said something, but you know how it is.."  
  
"Yeah, I know.. Besides, it's probably good we didn't have a rematch.we might have been kicked out of Crown."  
  
"What?" Lita cried. "How did you manage that?"  
  
"I'll give you one guess," Duo said.  
  
"Wufei," Heero said.  
  
"Bingo."  
  
"What did he do this time?" Lita asked.  
  
"It's a long story," Rei sighed, shaking her head. "Haruka for some unknown reason decided to challenge Wufei to a game of Sailor Smash. Not wanting to look like a chicken in front of a girl he agreed, on the condition they both play random characters to make it fair. Since you know Haruka's probably played as Uranus like 50 bazillion times, but anyway.. She wound up playing as Saturn. That set Wufei off in fits of laughter because Saturn is well, you know.."  
  
"I know," Lita said.  
  
"I don't," Duo said.  
  
"You're not supposed to," Heero suddenly spoke up. "I told you before.keep your nose out of places it doesn't belong."  
  
"I'm sorry.geez.." Duo waved his hands in the air. "No need to go ballistic on me."  
  
"Hn."  
  
"Anyway," Lita said, "What happened?"  
  
"Anyway, Wufei stopped laughing when he wound up with the baby of the group," Rei continued.  
  
"Oh god, you don't mean.."  
  
"I do."  
  
"I can already see that being a disaster," Lita said. "She's the weakest he could have gotten. Her magic attack always fails and her only other attack is to basically overwhelm her opponent with a stream of tears and sonic screaming."  
  
"Very true.except Wufei managed to beat Haruka."  
  
Lita's jaw dropped. "Please tell me you're joking. There's no way! Haruka should have wiped the floor with Wufei, just on experience alone. I mean, playing as 'The Spore Queen'.. Beating Haruka with her is like seeing hell freeze over!"  
  
"I know, I know!" Rei exclaimed. "Haruka was seriously ticked when she got beat by that pink haired freak of nature; and Wufei didn't make it any better. He just had to rub it in that he'd trashed her. So Haruka decided to get revenge.she told Wufei she'd believe his victory wasn't an accident if he could be beat somebody else using 'The Spore Queen'. So naturally, Wufei picked Duo as his opponent. Well, Duo went through the random selection process only something was different. Somehow, Wufei's victory had unlocked a secret character and that's who Duo landed on. Well, the character's identity wasn't revealed until they started the match; and it turned out to be a little back cat."  
  
Lita hit her forehead with the palm of her hand, knowing very well Rei meant Luna. "That's even worse! That cat has one attack.the Scratch of Death and it's totally useless! Well, ok.it's useless on everyone except Sailor Moon.."  
  
"Umhmm," Rei agreed. "That's what I thought.until the cat beat the crap out of 'The Spore Queen'. Wufei was downright furious. He'd lost to a cat, and he didn't like it one bit."  
  
"Now it makes sense," Lita said. "Wufei was so mad he was probably throwing one of his famous tantrums of injustice and demanding a rematch.and that in itself would be enough to get you kicked out of Crown."  
  
"Good thing we left before it got that far," Duo said.  
  
"I'll say," Rei responded. "Setsuna would have given us a killer lecture for that."  
  
Lita laughed, standing up and brushing some grass off. "Come on guys.we'd better be getting back so the other's know we aren't dead."  
  
Rei nodded. "Yeah, we told Setsuna we'd meet back at Crown in an hour to report and that hour is almost up, so we better hurry."  
  
"Why bother? I'm not going to kill myself to let everyone know I'm alive."  
  
Duo laughed, then suddenly stopped, gasping dramatically. "My god.Heero's made another joke.... Could it be he actually has a sense of humor?"  
  
"Very funny Duo. Just for that, I propose a little motivation to see just how much of a hurry you're in."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"First one back to Crown has to buy ice-cream.for Serena."  
  
"OH MY GOD!" Rei screeched.  
  
"She eats enough for ten people!" Duo cried.  
  
"Then I guess you better get started."  
  
Nodding vigorously, Duo took off, at a very fast run, in the direction of the Crown arcade, Rei close on his heels. Meanwhile, Heero made no visible effort to try and exert much energy.  
  
"Uh, Heero.isn't the whole point to be first so you don't have to spend a million dollars on ice cream?" Lita asked, walking beside him.  
  
"Not really. If either of them had really been paying attention, they would have noticed I said first one back.not last. They just assumed that last is what I meant. So actually, they're racing each other to see who buys Serena's ice cream."  
  
Lita started at him, then burst into laughter. "Heero Yuy, you never cease to amaze me."  
  
His only reply was a slight smirk.  
  
A couple of moths passed uneventfully in the world of Juuban. The weekends were usually spent as one large group doing something. Some days it was the movies, other times the park or the arcade. Oh sure, there were the "sporadic" arguments between Wufei and the poor soul who set him off, but that wasn't so unusual really; especially considering the large quantity of people staying at the Hikawa Shrine and all the people in the weekend outings. However, this time wasn't all flowers and sunshine.  
  
Heero had been kind of distant those days, spending much of his time hunting for Zechs or any leads on his whereabouts. And as if Wufei's almost constant bickering hadn't been enough to make things a little hairy, the secret Quatre was keeping wasn't helping matters any. He'd agreed not to say a word, and it was probably just as well. Everyone seemed to be reacting negatively to Heero's acquired unease and Quatre wasn't sure that everyone would be too pleased to know what he did.  
  
In any case, it was a situation that everyone was playing by ear. With nothing to go on, the pilots had to sit and wait and hope that worse didn't come to worse. Unfortunately for them, such wishes were not to be fulfilled and it wasn't long before things got worse.much, much worse.  
  
Lita stood waiting at the bus stop, hoping the bus would be on time for once. She had gone to the grocery store and picked up a few items, much to the dismay of the other pilots. They hadn't exactly been keen on the idea of her going out by herself, since they didn't know where Zechs was. So they deferred to Heero and asked him; but he was so engrossed in his work that he agreed to the errand not really knowing what he'd agreed too. This is how Lita had wound up standing at the bus stop with a bag of groceries. Though, to be perfectly honest, she hadn't gone out just to get milk and bread. She knew how diligent Heero had been in his search for Zechs, and so she thought by going out maybe she would be able to see something of use. Then again, she really wasn't sure what she was looking for. If Zechs was disguised, he could be practically anybody.  
  
Her thoughts were interrupted by a tap on her shoulder.  
  
Shaking her thoughts clear, she turned to see a man standing next to her. But this wasn't just any man.he fit the exact description Heero had given her of Zechs Marquise. He had the long platinum blonde hair, sky colored eyes, the height, and the overall aura of someone in a position of power. Lita's breath caught in her throat for a split second, but it returned upon the logical thought that if Zechs were here, he'd most likely be in disguise so as to avoid detection. Therefore, he wouldn't look like this so the only natural conclusion would be that this was indeed not Zechs. This being the case, she thought surely it would be alright just to see if she could be of assistance. "Can I help you?"  
  
"I was wondering if this bus goes to the Hikawa Shrine," he replied.  
  
"Yeah it does. Well, close anyway. It isn't far from the stop to the shrine."  
  
The man smiled. "Thank you."  
  
Lita smiled back. "Not at all. In fact, I'm on my way to Hikawa Shrine myself. Maybe I could be of help, 'cause the bus does stop a couple of times before it gets there."  
  
"That would be nice, if it is not any trouble. I am not familiar with Juuban so I am sure to get lost getting around."  
  
Just as Lita was about to respond, she spotted the bus heading toward them. "Hey, there's our ride," she said, pointing. The man followed her onto the bus and after paying their fare, they sat down.  
  
"I noticed you had a bag with you. Do you normally take things to the shrine?" the man asked, motioning to the sack.  
  
"Hmm? Oh, no," Lita laughed. "I'm staying at the shrine with a friend of mine. Her grandfather runs the place, so she said I could stay with her while I was in town. Because of that, I've been helping out, kind of earning my keep I guess."  
  
"I see." Then man than proceeded to ask her some questions about Juuban, all which Lita answered. Being a visitor, it was only naturally that he had questions about the town so she saw no harm in telling him.  
  
After a few minutes, the bus finally pulled up to the stop near Hikawa Shrine, and the two people get off. They continued their friendly conversation as they walked to the shrine. When they got up the steps, Lita saw Rei and Heero sweeping some leaves in the courtyard. "Rei, Heero!" she called, waving as she ran over to them, her bus companion following along behind a bit slower. She stopped and turned to the visitor, about to introduce him to her friends when he made the first move.  
  
"Heero.a pleasant surprise seeing you here."  
  
"Too bad I can't say the same," Heero glared back.  
  
"You know him?" Lita asked the newcomer.  
  
"Oh yes, we are old friends Heero and I," the man answered.  
  
"Only someone like you would say something like that."  
  
"Heero, I am offended."  
  
"Offensive.isn't that what you meant?"  
  
"Heero!" Lita exclaimed. "Stop being rude to him."  
  
"Why should I?"  
  
"Because he's a guest. He just wanted to see the shrine and you're making a big deal out of it."  
  
"Of course I am! Do you have any idea who this is?"  
  
"Well, no.," Lita admitted.  
  
"This is Zechs Marquise."  
  
Lita's face went white and suddenly she was no longer strong enough to hold the bag of groceries, letting them hit the ground with a thud. "Zechs.oh, no.what have I done?" she whispered.  
  
Heero gave Zechs a look that could kill twenty times over. "You don't have any business here Zechs. Now get the hell out and don't come back."  
  
"Alright. I will leave, but first answer this question. I noticed this young lady," he said, motioning to Lita, "is wearing a ring. And since she seems to know you, I can only assume that you two have some sort of relationship. Am I right?"  
  
"That isn't any of your business."  
  
"Very well," Zechs shrugged. "But just know that I will be coming back because I know you had something to do with my sister's death Heero. And I am going to prove it."  
  
Rei stared at Zechs' back as he left the shrine. When he was gone, she turned back to Heero and Lita. "What the hell is he talking about Heero? Did you kill somebody?" Rei waved her broom in threatening manner. "Have I been harboring a murderer all this time?"  
  
"Rei, Rei.settle down," Lita said, grabbing the broom. "Heero didn't kill anybody...I did."  
  
Rei stared at her blankly, and then started laughing. "Good joke Lita. Now be serious."  
  
"I am serious. I killed Zechs' sister Relena Peacecraft."  
  
"But.but." Rei stuttered. "I saw that on the news a couple months ago and they said that was a suicide!"  
  
"We'll explain inside," Heero said, herding the two girls toward the shrine.  
  
"You better explain!" Rei exclaimed.  
  
"Don't worry Rei, we will. No more secrets. you'll find out everything starting from the very beginning," Lita said. Well, almost everything she told herself. There were just some things that weren't meant to be told.  
  
An hour later, all Rei could say was, well.nothing. She was speechless.  
  
Duo scratched the back of his head. "A little more involved then you thought huh?"  
  
"Just a little," Rei replied. "Lita never mentioned Relena.. I guess I can see why she didn't."  
  
"I know I should have told you, but after the shooting, I just couldn't Rei. I didn't know what you'd do if you thought you were friends with a murderer," Lita said.  
  
"Well, I admit I was surprised, but I'm not going to stop being your friend just because you made a mistake," Rei said. "I know there's no way you would intentionally kill anyone.it's just not you. But what are you gonna do now? I mean, now that Zechs is here snooping around, shouldn't you come clean? He's probably gonna find out anyway. Besides, I'd think they'd let you off easy with it being self defense and all."  
  
"Just a couple problems with that," Duo said. "First off, if she confesses now, the cops will know she lied earlier about 'finding' Relena's body and that won't sit well. Secondly, Relena was at one time the holder of the title 'Queen of the World' and she's been very prominent in world politics.not to mention all the meddling she's done in the colonies too. If Lita were to confess to this, there's no doubt she'd be found guilty of murder."  
  
Rei looked horrified. "Are you sure?"  
  
Quatre nodded. "Unfortunately, yes. Relena carried a lot of weight with many governing factions, especially in her efforts to promote peace through pacifism. Though not all agreed with her ideas, many admired and still do admire her for all the time and energy she poured into promoting peace."  
  
"So.what you're saying is basically Lita is as good as imprisoned for life if she turns herself in."  
  
"Not quite. You see, when found guilty.they will spare no mercy for Relena's killer. If Lita does come forward, she's as good as dead."  
  
"Don't you ever say that again Quatre," Heero glared. "She's not going to die and I'm going to make sure of that."  
  
"But Heero.."  
  
"No buts Duo. I've got everything under control."  
  
Lita frowned to herself. Something about that line just didn't sit well with her. But she was feeling kind of tired and decided she'd get farther taking a nap then trying to argue with Heero. So deciding, she stood up. "Well, since you obviously have things under control, you don't need me so I'm going to my room." Turning, she left the group.  
  
"Is it just me, or has Lita been looking a little sick lately?" Rei asked.  
  
"So you noticed it too," Duo said. "I don't think it's anything to worry about though. Anybody in this situation is bound to get worked up and stressed out and stress can make you sick."  
  
"Hmmm.... Well anyway, I think I'll go see if she needs anything. If you'll excuse me," Rei said, standing up and heading for Lita's room. Once there, she knocked on the door. "Lita, can I come in?"  
  
"Yeah, sure," the muffled voice answered.  
  
Rei slid the door open, entering the room and shutting the door behind her. "Lita are you ok?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," she answered. "Just a little tired."  
  
Rei frowned. "Somehow I think you're not telling the whole truth."  
  
Lita cringed inwardly.now wasn't the time to be found out. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I don't know.you've just looked sick lately. Duo thinks it's because of the whole Relena mess."  
  
Thank god for Duo, Lita thought to herself, sitting up. "Ok, ok.you got me... I'm not alright. I've been living with the guilt of Relena's death for a couple months and now Zechs is involved. He's going to get the police to re-evaluate the case and once they're persuaded it wasn't a suicide they'll reopen the investigation, starting with me...that is if Heero doesn't do something stupid in the mean time."  
  
"Something stupid? Like what?"  
  
Lita shrugged. "I don't have any idea. But I can tell that he's up to something.and I don't think I'm going to like it."  
  
"I wouldn't worry about it. I don't see what he could possibly do that would get him into trouble unless he did something like kill Zechs."  
  
"Rei, you don't know them like I do. They may be soldiers, but they're their own army; they follow a different set of leaders and fight for themselves, not for a side and they're not above breaking the laws to comply with their orders. Normally I wouldn't worry about them a whole lot; I know they can take care of themselves. But this time I think it's going to be different. This time, I'm scared."  
  
Meanwhile back in the study room, the pilots were busily staring blankly at Heero and his seeming ridiculous plan. "Are you out of your mind?" Duo cried.  
  
"No."  
  
"I think you are," Wufei mumbled to himself.  
  
"You are of course entitled to your opinion Wufei," Heero answered. "But I'm perfectly sane."  
  
"Then may I ask why in hell you even suggested this ludicrous plan?"  
  
Heero shrugged. "You come up with something better."  
  
Wufei stuttered, glaring darkly when he couldn't produce an idea.  
  
"As I thought."  
  
"But surely there's another way," Quatre said. "There has to be.."  
  
"I don't see anyway around it. They won't do anything to me.you know how everyone feels about us. We are renegades to be feared. Even if it isn't necessarily true, it's the image people have of us."  
  
"Yeah," Duo agreed. "But what's that got to do with anything? I would think that would only hurt you."  
  
"In most circumstances yes, it would," Trowa affirmed. "But in this case, I think it would help. There would be a widespread concern that we would retaliate if something were to happen to Heero."  
  
"I get it," Duo said. "We're like the trump card.if they make one wrong move then we go in and pay them a little visit."  
  
"Exactly. That's why I'm not worried," Heero said. "Everything will go alright as long as Duo holds up his end."  
  
"Roger that. Mission accepted by 02," Duo grinned, saluting.  
  
Wufei rolled his eyes. "Somebody get me out of here please.."  
  
His prayer was answered, for that moment Rei walked into the room. "Hey Wufei, I need your help. Lita's not feeling well, so I'm shorthanded on kitchen help for making dinner. She says you can make meatloaf, though now that I think about it she didn't say whether it was edible or not.."  
  
"Of course it's edible! How dare you insult my ability to make meatloaf!" Wufei glared, standing up and storming off to the kitchen, mumbling rather loudly. "I'll show you onna.thinks I can't make a simple thing like meatloaf.."  
  
Rei laughed. "I knew that'd work," she said before following him out.  
  
"Well, it looks like the meeting's been adjourned," Quatre said.  
  
Heero nodded. "It starts tomorrow," he said as the pilots went their separate ways.  
  
The next day found Lita spending the afternoon by watching some television. She was interrupted by a tap on her shoulder. Looking back, she found Duo standing there. "Hey Duo. Something wrong?"  
  
"Not really, but could you come back to my room for a minute? There's something I need to tell you."  
  
"Um, ok," she said, getting off the couch and following him. Once they were inside, she looked at Duo. "What is it?"  
  
"Well, Heero kind of got a mission and the scientists are coming here to brief him on it. They're due any minute, so you have to stay in here because, well.they kinda don't know about you."  
  
Lita frowned. "Heero didn't tell me about any mission."  
  
"Well, he probably didn't want to worry you anymore.you know how he is."  
  
"Yeah," she said slowly. "I do." Frowning, she sat down. Something wasn't right here. Heero would have told her if he was leaving, so they must be doing something else.something they were trying to hide from her. After a few minutes, she decided she had to know what was going on. "Really Duo, is it necessary to keep me in here? I mean.I'm kinda thirsty."  
  
"Well why didn't you say so? I'll get you some water." No sooner had he opened the door then Lita had made her way through. "HEY!" Duo cried, chasing her. He knew things would fall apart if he didn't catch her.  
  
She made it the study room, the room she decided was most likely to be occupied, briefing or not. Blinking, she looked at the group of people assembled. Lita may not have been a genius, but she did know for sure that none of these people had even the slightest chance of being one of the scientists. "Heero Yuy, what on earth is going on here?" 


	21. Pray for a Miracle and Spare Two Lives

I can play with these characters all I want, but I still don't own them. Oh well...borrowing is nice too.  
  
As I said in the last chapter, there will be some angst in here.more like a lot instead of some; and many of you will probably want to kill me by the time you get to the end (especially since I've been updating at the speed of a slug stuck in molasses). I don't really mind, but could you please wait until October 6th until you do it? I don't want to miss C-Kon. Oh, speaking of which I don't own the brief set of song lyrics that appear at the end of the chapter either. They belong to whoever did the video game Legend of Dragoon. If you like RPG games, then I think you'd like this game. Anyway, on with the story!  
  
Enjoy!  
  
Heero blinked. "Lita.you're not supposed to be here.. DAMN IT DUO!" he cursed, as Duo came skidding into the crowded room, taking Heero down with him.  
  
"Sorry," Duo said. "Didn't mean to run you over."  
  
"I don't care. What the hell is this?" Heero pointed at Lita. "I thought you had things under control. Now everything's all fouled up."  
  
"Time out," a tall man in a blue uniform said. "Would either of you two care to explain what you're doing here?" he said, looking first at Lita then at Duo.  
  
"I could ask you the same question," Lita said, looking over at the room's four other inhabitants.policemen.  
  
"We were getting a confession out of Relena's killer until we were so rudely interrupted," another cop wearing glasses said.  
  
"Confession.? I KNEW IT! Heero, you were up to something!"  
  
Heero scowled. "Lita, get out of here now.before.."  
  
"Before what?" the tall policeman said. "I don't think she's going anywhere. She seems to know you.." And that could indicate a possible conspiracy he thought to himself. "Tell me, what's your relationship to the suspect?" he asked Lita.  
  
"I'm his fiancé," she answered.  
  
"And how do you feel knowing you are engaged to the murderer of Relena Peacecraft?"  
  
"You'll have to ask him."  
  
"What does that mean? He's the one who killed her.."  
  
"That may be what he told you, but it isn't true," Lita said softly. It hadn't taken her long to figure out just what Heero had planned to do. She knew her coming here had upset his plan, but she couldn't let him go through with it.  
  
"Not.true.?"  
  
"Don't do this Lita," Duo pleaded.  
  
"I have to Duo," she answered. "I can't hide it anymore." The next thing she knew she was telling the police everything that had happened, confessing to murder.  
  
Heero for his part, seemed not to notice. He'd fallen silent and was staring blankly at the goings on around him. You couldn't really blame him though; his plan had failed and the thought of what they would do to the one person he cared about had made him numb to all reality. What brought him back was a metallic sound followed by the sight of Lita's wrists bound by a pair of handcuffs.  
  
"I'm sorry Heero.for everything." It was all the time she had as the police led her out of the room.  
  
There was silence for a couple minutes, until it was disturbed by the muffled sound of a motor as the police left with their prisoner. Then followed the running of several pairs of feet as Rei and the other three pilots appeared in the doorway.  
  
"Heero.." Quatre said softly, looking at the slump-shouldered pilot. "You alright?"  
  
"Laptop," Heero said, straightening up.  
  
"Huh? Laptop?" Duo asked.  
  
"We're going to get her out of there."  
  
"But.but I thought.."  
  
"You thought I'd leave her?"  
  
"You better not!" Rei huffed.  
  
"No, Heero wouldn't let her rot in jail," Duo said to Rei. "But after that discussion we had the other night we didn't think you'd resort to jail breaks. You said it was out of the question because then she'd be a fugitive and she'd have to change her identity and all that."  
  
"I know what I said.but I also know what Quatre said. He's right.they're going to kill her, right or not. No jury will let her go. Besides, I thought this plan was going to work.it wouldn't have involved her at all and we wouldn't have had to resort to breaking the law. But things are different now.it may be a rotten life, but at least she'll be alive."  
  
Inwardly, Quatre breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, he was not normally a fan of law breaking, but this was an extreme case. He knew once he saw Lita being led out the door in handcuffs that she'd confessed. Then he had prayed Heero would change his mind on the issue of escape.  
  
"Come on.we don't have time to waste," Heero said, heading for Lita's room. The other pilots and Rei followed behind, all of them crowding into the room to see what could be found. Heero booted up his laptop and connected to the net.  
  
"So what's the first step?" Duo asked.  
  
"We need to find out where they plan on keeping her. Once we know that, we can get a layout of the prison and plan the escape," Heero answered.  
  
"That's easy to say, but how are you going to find that out? It isn't like you can send the cops an e-mail asking where she is," Rei said matter-of- factly.  
  
"That is quite true," Quatre answered. "But you have to understand that sometimes in our line of work we have to use back doors."  
  
"Back doors?"  
  
Wufei rolled his eyes. "He's going to hack into the police network onna."  
  
"Hack??" Rei exclaimed. "You guys can do that?"  
  
"Of course we can. We aren't stupid."  
  
"Well I'm not stupid and I can't hack."  
  
Trowa shifted from where he was leaning against the wall. "You must have some degree of intelligence to be able to hack, yes. However, it is no lack if you can not. We have been trained for this sort of thing. As Quatre said, sometimes we must use back doors. Think of this skill as the bobby pin that picks the lock on the door when you have no key."  
  
"You think this is bad, you don't want to know what else we've done," Duo said.  
  
"Shut up Maxwell!" Wufei said fiercely, elbowing Duo in the ribs.  
  
"All of you shut up!" Heero hissed. "I don't have any tolerance for your antics right now. I need to be able to concentrate." His words were punctuated with a dark scowl.  
  
For the first time since she'd known them, Rei was afraid of these young men. She'd accepted without question that they were soldiers and she expected them to act a little rough at times. However, this hacking business and Duo's intimations that they had been involved in other.unpleasant things.unnerved her.  
  
Several silently tense minutes passed. The only sounds were the rapid tapping of Heero's fingers on the keyboard and an occasional noise of irritation from the same person. Finally, he stopped, sitting up from his hunched over position. "I'm in."  
  
There was a general sigh of relief from the group. "We should know something soon then?" Rei asked.  
  
Heero gave a distracted nod as he opened up the prison roster. He quickly scanned down the list; then he frowned and scanned through it again.  
  
"Something wrong?" Duo asked.  
  
"Something is very wrong," Heero said, his eyes narrowed. "Her name isn't on this roster."  
  
"Maybe the system just isn't updated," Rei said.  
  
"Possible, but highly unlikely. After they left, they should have taken her and put her straight into a cell. They got a confession here, so it's unlikely they would have re-questioned her."  
  
"Can you prove that?"  
  
"No," he said flatly. "But I'm beginning to have my suspicions."  
  
"So what do we do now?" Duo asked.  
  
"We don't have any choice.we have to wait."  
  
"Waiting is going to help us how.?" Rei asked.  
  
Heero's already short fuse was about to blow, but he reminded himself that Rei was not exactly experienced in this sort of thing. Realizing he was starting to let his emotions over take him, Heero sat for a minute, staring at the laptop screen telling himself that getting worked up wouldn't help anybody. He couldn't afford to let himself lose control when somebody's life was on the line.  
  
Rei was just about to repeat her question when Quatre laid a gentle hand on her arm. Shaking his head, he whispered softly. "I know you're anxious to help Lita Rei, but please remember that you aren't the only one who wants to see her come back."  
  
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "I guess I'm just.feeling a little helpless. One of my best friends just got arrested and I can't do anything about it except wait.and patience has never been my strong point."  
  
Quatre smiled. "It's alright.I think we're all a little short on patience right now. It just means we have to work harder on cooperating."  
  
"ARGH!" Wufei cried out, interrupting the quiet conversation. "Yuy, stop that damn noise! It's driving me mad!"  
  
"So much for working together and cooperation," Rei said, looking over to where Heero was sitting, drumming his fingers on his laptop. "Um.Heero, he is right though..That is kind of.annoying.."  
  
"Do you think I give a shit if it's annoying or not?" Heero growled, glaring at the laptop.  
  
Quatre bit his lip. This was going nowhere fast, except toward a catastrophe. Heero was silently stewing in front of the laptop, which only caused his anger and frustration to grow; Quatre knew he had to do something and fast. "Heero, you mentioned you had suspicions.about what?"  
  
Heero erased his cyber-tracks, exiting the police network. He got up and turned on the radio that was sitting on the bookshelf.  
  
"Heero?" Quatre asked, not understanding. What did music have to do with it? The group looked at each other, then back at Heero. Suddenly the music stopped and the hourly news update came on.  
  
"Listen carefully," Heero commanded.  
  
The group did as told. At the end of the news, Duo frowned. "What were we supposed to be listening for? I didn't hear anything unusual."  
  
"That's just it," Heero said. "The arrest of Relena's murderer.I would consider that big news wouldn't you?"  
  
"Now that you mention it," Duo said, "they didn't mention the arrest at all. That doesn't make any sense. I would think that kind of news would be plastered all over."  
  
"I'd stake my life on it.there is something going on under the table," Heero said.  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"I don't have hard proof, but watch the news tonight.I'd lay you odds there won't be one mention of a murder confession involving Relena."  
  
Wufei frowned. "If that does turn out to be the case, we must find out why."  
  
"Oh that's easy," Heero said. "And in a few hours I intend to prove my theory."  
  
"Why not just tell us now?"  
  
"I could.but I'm not immune to failure. There is a slim chance I'm wrong.and to whatever forces control our lives, I pray that I've made a mistake."  
  
"So now we wait." Rei said. And wait they did. The group tried to carry on a normal afternoon, but it was all in vain. The cloud of uncertainty hanging over their heads made it quite impossible. Things got no better after dinner. They had watched the news, all 2 hours of it.and not one word was mentioned about the capture of Relena's killer.  
  
"You were right," Duo said. "Not a thing."  
  
"More confirmation. Now it's time to see if the proof is where I think it is," Heero said, heading back toward Lita's room.  
  
"What does that mean?" Rei asked.  
  
As the group piled into the room, Heero booted up the internet connection. "I knew from the moment I laid eyes on that roster that something wasn't right. I'm convinced that the police here in Juuban are in contact with the Sanq Kingdom."  
  
"Sanq Kingdom? Why would our police be involved with that place?"  
  
"Relena was from the Sanq Kingdom," Quatre explained. "But I do agree.what makes you think there's a connection?"  
  
"I think I see where Heero's train of thought is going," Trowa said. "As we've already established, nobody really believes that Relena committed suicide, least of all the people of the Sanq Kingdom. If they were to find out that Relena's murderer had been captured, they'd want swift justice would they not?"  
  
"Well yeah, but what does that have to do with anything?" Duo asked.  
  
"Think for a minute Duo. If she goes through the whole process of booking she'll be started in the legal system and that means a trial," Heero said, as he maneuvered through a maze of back doors to get to the e-mail of the prison.  
  
Quatre's eyes widened in realization. "That means if they don't book her and she's an 'unofficial' prisoner she won't be involved with the courts which means no trial.."  
  
"And no trial means certain death," Trowa finished.  
  
"Oh no, no!" Rei exclaimed. "That can't be true!"  
  
"I'm afraid it is," Heero said pointing to the document  
  
Wufei peered over Heero's shoulder, running eyes down the document on the screen. "So far, correct .this e-mail is from the Juuban police informing the Sanq Kingdom of Lita's confession and subsequent arrest. It requests instructions on how to deal with the prisoner."  
  
Heero closed the e-mail, opening the next message on the in-box list. "This reply from the Sanq Kingdom 'suggests' that a lapse in procedure be made so no official record of her arrest exists, therefore keeping her effectively out of the media and the legal system." He closed that document, opening another one. "A following mail from Juuban asks for a sentence, since 'a great crime was committed against their people by this violent act'." He moved onto the last message on the list, a reply from the Sanq Kingdom. But this time, he didn't summarize its contents or pass any thing along. He only ripped the phone cord from the wall, taking the laptop and hurling it through the room's sliding paper door. The deafening silence created by his action was broken the moment the laptop shattered apart.  
  
"Heero..?" Quatre asked tentatively.  
  
"She doesn't deserve to see another day. Kill her before midnight's last bell."  
  
"The last message," Trowa said softly.  
  
"No!" Rei cried. "There has to be something we can do!"  
  
"What do you want me to do?" Heero smashed his fist into the wall. "We don't know where in the prison she is or what time they plan on doing it; and even if we did the 5 of us can't take on a whole police force right now. Under normal circumstances, easily.but we're talking about a friend here and that's when emotions get involved and when emotions get involved things go wrong. Besides, I don't even know if she's even at the prison still. They could have taken her any number of places by now."  
  
"You can't just leave her there. You said you wouldn't do that!" Rei swiped at the tears gathering in her eyes.  
  
Quatre took her elbow, ushering her from the room while motioning for the other pilots to join him. Once they had all gathered in the living room, he looked at all of them. "I know how much this hurts all of you to hear, but in reality Heero is right. With no information we don't have enough to go on to make a safe, effective plan."  
  
"But you can't just abandon her!" Rei shouted.  
  
"Believe me, none of us wants to be in this position.but look at Heero Rei. He's the best of all of us and he's in no emotional state to do anything. We could try on our own, but without all of us working together, our chances for success are virtually non-existent."  
  
"Stop making excuses! If none of you will do anything, then I will!"  
  
"Rei!" Quatre said loudly, pounding his fist on the coffee table. "If you think we want to sit here and do nothing you're sadly mistaken. Do you think any of us wants to see her meet that end? Do you think I enjoy being told there's no chance when I know what I know? Damn it Rei! It was hard enough for Heero to see his fiancé get arrested, but it was equally hard for me to see her escorted out in handcuffs knowing she was willingly sacrificing herself and her son to protect Heero?"  
  
"Son?" Duo's eyes widened. "She was.?"  
  
Quatre nodded. "She told me when she first found out and made me promise not to tell anyone, especially not Heero. She didn't want to burden him with a family he wasn't ready for."  
  
"Bastards," a choked voice hissed.  
  
"Heero!" Quatre turned toward the kitchen in alarm, silently cursing himself for not paying closer attention.  
  
"They're going to take from me not only my fiancé, but my son.." Anger flashed in his midnight eyes as he squeezed the glass in his hand, letting it explode in a rain of shards. "Even after her death, Relena plagues my life. She's destroyed everything!" Seething, he kicked one of the kitchen chairs into the living room. He was prepared to kick the chair again, when he stopped. "No.it wasn't Relena, it was me. It's cowardly to hide behind her when it's my fault this all happened. Oh god, what have I done?" Sinking to the floor, he brushed the fingers of his bloodied hand through his hair.  
  
"Come on Heero, pull yourself together," Duo said, kneeling down next to his compatriot.  
  
"How?? I killed them Duo! I fucking killed them! And now that I've realized that I've also realized I don't know what to do.."  
  
"None of us do Heero.none of us do."  
  
"Then all is lost." So saying, Heero allowed himself to fall victim to his emotions and broke down, staring at Duo with eyes that ran with silent tears.  
  
The hours flew swiftly in the shrine as well as the jail; and all too soon she had finished writing a last message with pen and paper supplied by a guard. Upon it's completion, Lita was escorted toward her chamber of fate and the letter was given to the guard for delivery. However, when he found out it was not a humble apology for the crime or any reflections of such a nature, he crumpled it into a ball and threw it in the waste basket as he passed by.  
  
While they made ready to carry out the secret execution, a transparent figure lifted from the basket the ball of paper, unfolding it a little to read these words:  
  
If from where you're standing  
  
You can see the sky above  
  
I'll be waiting for you  
  
If you still believe in love. 


	22. Returned as Penance

I didn't buy any of these characters at C-Kon, so I still don't own them. However, should somebody be willing to donate ownership to me, I would gladly accept.  
  
I'm glad all of you are enjoying the story thus far. (Thank you all for reading and reviewing!)Lots of surprises are still to come, so keep reading! Warning-this chapter contains elements of the supernatural. Nothing creepy.well, not really creepy anyway. ^_^ Also, there will be a large amount of dialogue.hopefully it is entertaining. Don't want to bore everyone.  
  
Deepest apologies for the lateness of my update, but this is a very special chapter and I had to get it just right. Emotions can't be forced after all.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
Heero sat outside on the platform that ran around Hikawa Shrine. It was well after midnight, seeing as the sky was a dirty orange; a color seen when the sun first struggles to break over the horizon. Staring dully out in front of him, his right hand gripping the gun he had given to Lita months ago, when she returned to Juuban. In all honesty, he knew this wasn't the answer. His death wouldn't bring back Lita or the son he'd never met. Yet now his life didn't seem worth living.especially once he started hearing the voice.  
  
"Heero Yuy! You put that gun down this instant!"  
  
A scowl darkened Heero's features. Looking around, he searched for the source of the voice he recognized as Relena Peacecraft's. "What kind of joke is this?"  
  
"It isn't a joke Heero," a rather transparent looking Relena said as she materialized in front of him. "I am Relena.in spirit of course. I am dead after all," she said laughing at herself.  
  
"You are nothing but an evil figment of my imagination. I'm only seeing you because of my emotional state."  
  
"Excuse me, but I am not a figment of anything. I'm perfectly real. See here?" She tossed a crumpled ball of paper at him.  
  
"What's this?"  
  
"The letter Lita left for you."  
  
Heero tossed the gun down, opened the paper and read the message. As much as he hated to admit it, the writing on the page was Lita's and the paper was solid enough, meaning that this apparition of Relena wasn't just something his mind was making up. "Hn," he said, tossing the ball to the dirt. "What was the point of bringing this to me? Stupid letter.as if that's going to make things alright."  
  
"And I thought you'd be grateful to have it."  
  
"I'm supposed to be grateful?" Heero kicked the crumpled ball across the yard. "She wouldn't have had to write this at all if it hadn't been for you," he accused.  
  
Frowning, the Relena spirit pointed a finger. "And what of you? Didn't you read that closely? She said she'd be waiting for you. Don't you have any faith?"  
  
"Faith in what? I did have faith that once you were gone I'd be rid of you. Look how true that faith has proven."  
  
"Don't you believe in anything anymore Heero?"  
  
"I don't have any reason to."  
  
"None at all?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Fine.be stubborn and mean. I'll just take back the present I brought you."  
  
"If it's from you, I don't want it."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Positive."  
  
"As you wish, but I think you'll regret your hasty decision."  
  
"Hn," Heero shrugged, not interested. Staring down into the dirt, he absently kicked a few tiny stones away from him. "Just leave me alone Peacecraft. "  
  
"Oh alright. I'll leave.eventually."  
  
Ready to deliver one of his famous biting remarks, Heero's eyes widened slightly upon hearing a familiar voice echoing through the shrine yard.  
  
"Oi, Relena.couldn't you have used your divine influence to get us a ride? My feet are killing me!"  
  
Heero's head snapped up toward the apparition of Relena. "What kind of sick joke are you pulling?"  
  
"Joke?" Relena huffed. "I am insulted. There's no joke involved Heero. Go see for yourself." She pointed one semi-transparent finger in the direction where the stairs finally met the courtyard.  
  
He turned his head to the indicated direction and was rewarded with the sight of a head of chocolate colored hair popping up into view, which then promptly was laid down on what would be the top step.  
  
"Relena.I'm talking to you," the voice said. "I thought you said you had divine influence.so where's my ride?"  
  
"Right here."  
  
The owner of both voice and hair looked up to see someone kneeling down next to their head. "Heero!"  
  
"That was my name last time I checked."  
  
"Y.you..I thought I was going to die and that's all you can say to me??"  
  
"Welcome home Lita," Heero said, smiling slightly down at the face of the green eyed girl he knew so well. Despite his best efforts to hide it, he could feel something wet at the edge of his eyes.  
  
"Heero.," she said, reaching a hand up toward his face.  
  
Taking a firm grip on her hand, he pulled her up all the way into the shrine's courtyard before picking her up.  
  
"Heero, what are you doing? I can walk you know."  
  
"I know. But weren't you just complaining that your feet hurt?"  
  
Lita blushed slightly, scratching the back of her head. "Well.yeah.."  
  
"And weren't you just asking where your ride was?"  
  
"Uh.might have.."  
  
"And I said I was right here didn't I?"  
  
"Well, yeah.but it isn't like you to volunteer yourself Heero."  
  
"For you Lita, I'd do anything," he said softly in her ear. Smiling to himself at the pink stain on her cheeks, he carried her toward the shrine. "And I think the first thing I should do is get you to bed."  
  
"Bed?" Lita pouted. "But.but Heero.."  
  
"No buts. The last couple of days have been very stressful for everyone and I know you're no exception. Rest first. I'll still be here when you wake up."  
  
"Hmm.alright. Actually.I am feeling a little tired.." She tired to hide a yawn behind her hand, failing miserably. However, it didn't really matter because before she knew it, Lita was tucked into her futon sleeping soundly.  
  
Once back outside, Heero spotted the visitor-in-spirit hovering around the place where she had first materialized. Making a disgusted face, he turned away from her. "I never thought I would see the day I would be grateful to you for anything. I don't like being indebted.especially not to you."  
  
"I didn't figure your opinion of me would change."  
  
"You're right..I still don't like you.much." Heero turned to face her. "But the least I can do is thank you. I.I am very grateful for your bringing her back to me. But I want to know how you did it, and why?"  
  
"HOW AND WHY?" Relena got a deadpan look on her face. "You just got your fiancé back and that's what's important to you? You idiot!" She reached into the sleeve of her robe and pulled out a giant white mallet with little golden wings on the handle. On the mallet was written "Divine Influence".  
  
"You spent your last minutes on Earth trying to take Lita away from me and now you bring her back..That doesn't strike you as odd?"  
  
"Well, now that you mention it, it does seem strange doesn't it.?"  
  
"Not as strange as that," Heero said, motioning to the mallet.  
  
"What...this?" Relena said, holding it up. "Yeah, well.this is why I couldn't use my divine influence to get a ride.nobody would want to help you if you hit them up side the head with this thing."  
  
"You mean.this thing.."  
  
She coughed. "I am a recent addition to heaven.so I kind of.can't exactly use my charming personality to get favors....So I can't exactly get heaven to intervene just.whenever.so this is my substitute. Hehe.." Her laughter trailed off. "But at least this 'Divine Influence' is good for beating sense into people. I learned that when I used it on the head of the government at home.or what used to be home."  
  
Heero's jaw dropped and he stared in disbelief. "You.you hit somebody.a government official.with that.."  
  
"Damn right I did."  
  
".. Did I just hear you say damn?"  
  
"Clean the wax out of your ears Yuy."  
  
He twitched. "My ears are not stopped up thank you very much."  
  
"Then maybe I didn't say it loud enough. DAMN, DAMN, DAMN! Did you hear that?"  
  
Hero blinked. "So I wasn't hearing things.but the Relena I knew totally disapproved of swearing."  
  
"Well, I'm not quite the Relena you knew. Spending a few months in hell will change you, and not necessarily for the better. I still don't like it, but I found a use for such.vulgar language. It was just what I needed to help Lita. You see, NOBODY interferes with the plans of the great and powerful Peacecraft." She laughed a rather scheming laugh.  
  
Heero raised an eyebrow. "Great and powerful should not be used in the same sentence as your name."  
  
Relena sighed. "You're right of course. My sphere of influence is non- existent at the moment."  
  
"Anyway.about the real question.."  
  
"Hmm? Oh yes.how and why. Well, I am of the opinion the how is better left until Lita wakes up. She herself hasn't heard the how of the story yet, and frankly I'd rather not tell it 15,000 times. Besides, at the time I'm not sure she was in a state where she could fully comprehend the seriousness of the actions I had to take. But in any case, I thought it was more important to tell her why I did it. After all, the why is the reason I'm here at all."  
  
"Hn," Heero acknowledged.  
  
Relena rolled her eyes. "Glad to see your conversation skills have improved in my absence."  
  
"Stuff it Peacecraft."  
  
"You be nice to me or I'm not answering your questions."  
  
"Damn you.."  
  
"Aww.poor Heero's getting blackmailed by a ghost.."  
  
Heero glared at Relena. "Shut up or I'm going to kill you."  
  
"You can't kill me..I'm already dead. Duh.."  
  
"As if I didn't know that."  
  
Relena snickered. "As if I'd be worried. It's just an idle threat anyway. But in all seriousness Heero.it's time I told the why."  
  
"So tell me already."  
  
"Pushy. Anyway, you better sit down for this one."  
  
Heero plopped himself down on the platform he'd been sitting on earlier. "Nice to see your communication skills haven't gotten any better in your absence. You still have to give those long winded speeches."  
  
"There was nothing wrong with those speeches Heero Yuy! Anyhow, I have a lot of explaining to do.for many things. Naturally a thorough explanation takes time. Not like you have anything else to do right now anyway."  
  
"I could think of some things," he mumbled under his breath.  
  
"I'll just pretend I didn't hear that," Relena said, making herself at home suspended in mid-air. "Let's see.where to start.."  
  
"How about the beginning?"  
  
"That would be best wouldn't it.." Sighing, she tilted her head back a little, looking up at the sky. "I guess it all started when I first realized I loved you. I don't exactly when it happened, but I think it was the first time I realized the person you were was just a mask.a shell hiding the real Heero Yuy. I sensed that somehow there was another, different you under that spit and polish soldier and I decided I was going to put everything into getting him to come out. What a failure that was.."  
  
She shook her head, remembering her vain efforts. "I did everything I could think of to try and break through your shell. Yet the most I ever got from you was a tolerance of my presence and that was only because you didn't have much choice.it was part of the mission after all. All the other times you just brushed me off; but it didn't bother me so much then because I knew that's just how you were. You wouldn't be a willing acceptant of help...that I knew. So I continued to pursue you, hoping that my devotion would eventually wear you down. Then she came along."  
  
"Lita.?"  
  
Relena nodded. "It was the first time I experienced jealousy. I'd never had to be jealous before.you avoided the female sex like the plague unless orders dictated otherwise. But this time was different.. Lita seemed to be able to elicit reactions, emotions from you that I'd never been able to. Not even your friends could do it, but she was able to. It wasn't like she was really trying too.it just happened. Something about her was causing you to open up and I couldn't stand it. It was supposed to be my job to break through that soldier to the man underneath. Instead it was her..It was Lita that you always defended when I went into one of my jealous, angry rages. It was Lita you were opening too and Lita you were allowing closer. I was blinded by my envy and it consumed me to the point where I was willing to do anything to get you back. I told myself you were mine to begin with and I wouldn't let some little girl come along and steal you from me. So when I was forced to evacuate, I made up my mind that the only way to bring you back was to get rid of her, but as you can see my plan backfired; because even then you protected her. I'm quite certain the gun she had that night came from you."  
  
"Relena.," Heero said softly. He hadn't been her number one fan...that much was true. Yet now that he was hearing her unload this from her heart, he almost felt sorry for her. I wonder, he thought. If I had been in her place, would I have done the same?  
  
"When I came to in my present form, I was in hell. I was furious..I was Relena Peacecraft, champion of world peace and pacifism. I didn't belong in hell. Hell was a place that only the vilest of people went. I couldn't accept this as my eternal fate and I constantly complained and protested my place here. But one day, I got tired of whining about the stench of sulfur and the horribly prominent flame décor. My mind drifted to why I was here in the first place.and I realized that it was because I was a vile person. I had been a first class idiot."  
  
She brushed some of "hair" out of her eyes. "I had been in love with you, and I thought my actions were done out of love. But I was wrong. They were selfish. If I had truly loved you, I would have respected your wishes; I would have done anything to make you happy, regardless of what it took. When I saw that maybe, just maybe Lita was the one making you happy I couldn't accept it. I allowed myself to believe that I was imaging things; but I wasn't. I guess I always knew deep down that there would never be a relationship between us. Not like I wanted. The love I so wanted you to give me you gave to her because it made you happy to do so and like the fool I was, I tried to destroy your happiness because I didn't want to believe that it was real. I'm not sure now what I really felt for you in all honesty. I thought it was love, but a person in love doesn't act the way I did. A person in love acts like Lita did.like you did. Both of you willing to sacrifice yourselves for the other, putting somebody else ahead of yourself."  
  
"It was when I realized this that I was given the chance to redeem my soul. A messenger came to me, telling me what had taken place here. I could leave hell behind and go to heaven at a price. I would have to reunite the two of you and make apologies for my actions. The selfish, 'in love' Relena popped up first, wanting to know why I should return her to you when you were mine. The just plain selfish Relena welcomed it as a chance to get out of hell. I mean really.sulfur is murder on hair and red is SO not my color. But I knew I could never know full redemption until I got rid of all selfishness. I had to look past what I wanted, what I thought I wanted and do what was right for the right reasons, not for my own reasons; and I knew that what was right was returning her.it wasn't fair to make either you or her suffer for something I brought upon myself. So I agreed.and you know the rest of the story, almost." She smiled. "I stayed true to what I felt was right and brought her back to you Heero."  
  
"And so you were redeemed?"  
  
Relena nodded. "I was, the moment I told Lita I was sorry for everything I'd done." She smiled. "I meant it too.every word. I couldn't believe how much lighter I felt, like a huge weight was gone. I didn't have to feel guilty anymore because she knew and she understood. That doesn't mean what I did was right of course.if it had been, I wouldn't have been in hell to begin with." She laughed. "But even if I had wound up not getting to free my soul, I think it would have been enough for me just to be able to tell the both of you what you've heard me say."  
  
All Heero could do at the moment was nod dumbly. Relena had always seemed, well.rather shallow to him. So he was a bit surprised by the outpouring. His thoughts were interrupted by crashing noises and sounds of commotion coming from inside the shrine. Frowning, he pocketed the gun he'd tossed aside earlier and stood up, going inside. Poking his head around the corner into the hall where the bedroom's where he saw Rei, in her Shinto robes, hopping around with her broom, screaming something about a ghost. Everybody else was still in their pajamas, stumbling around trying to figure out what was going on.  
  
"Stupid onna," Wufei growled, still groggy from sleepy. "There's no ghost."  
  
"There is!" She pointed through the door of the room where Lita was sleeping. "Look!"  
  
"I am looking," Duo said, rubbing his eyes. "But the ghost is out here!" He pointed down the hall toward Heero.  
  
Rei followed Duo's finger. "ANOTHER GHOST???" she screeched.  
  
Heero looked up. Sure enough, there was Relena hovering overhead. "You had to follow me didn't you?"  
  
She shrugged. "I have nothing better to do if that's what you're asking."  
  
Everybody was now staring down the hall dumbly. "Heero.are you talking to Relena.?" Duo asked.  
  
"Yes, I am talking to Relena. Or more appropriately what's left of her."  
  
"Heero, you just have a sick sense of humor," Relena said.  
  
"Hn."  
  
Rolling her eyes, Relena decided to ignore him. "Long time no see guys." She smiled and waved.  
  
"DIE PEACECRAFT!!" Wufei shouted, grabbing Rei's broom and running down the hall, trying to smack her ghostly image. It wasn't working to well.she kept dodging, just like the plastic gopher in those whack-the-gopher games.  
  
"Stupid," Relena said. "I'm already dead. Why would you want to kill me anyway?"  
  
"I'm tired. My sleep was interrupted by that stupid priestess screaming about ghosts and then you're floating at the end of the hallway. Am I supposed to be happy about this??" He waved the broom around angrily. "Now be gone evil spirit!"  
  
"And you interrupted my sleep," a groggy voice said.  
  
Everyone turned toward the bedroom Rei had fingered as the ghosts hiding place. "L.Lita?" Duo stuttered.  
  
"Umhmm," she nodded, brushing her bangs out of her eyes. "I was trying to get a little sleep seeing as I haven't had any for a while, but no.you all decided to play Ghostbusters in the hallway." Drumming her fingers on the door frame, she looked at them. "You all really deserve a nice big shock and I'm.."  
  
"Not going to do anything," Heero said, grabbing hold of her arm. "You are in no condition to be wasting your energy zapping people that have jellyfish for brains."  
  
"I feel insulted now," Duo said.  
  
"Why? I thought the description fit you perfectly," Wufei replied.  
  
Sensing that Lita was starting to get irritated with the bickering, he gave them both a nice dark glare, causing everyone in the vicinity to clam up and stand quietly. "Now before we have anymore ghost sightings, I think we should get a few things straight. This," he said, pointing to Lita, "is not a ghost. This," he said, pointing to Relena, who had followed him down the hall, "is a ghost."  
  
"What is a ghost doing in my shrine?" Rei asked.  
  
"Just doing what any ghost on earth does. Letting myself rest in peace. To do that, I had to take care of some unfinished business."  
  
"In other words," Lita said, smothering a yawn, "she came back to save me. That's why I'm not a ghost."  
  
"This is an interesting situation," Trowa commented. "But might I ask.just how does a dead person go about staying an execution and getting someone released from prison?"  
  
"I was hoping you'd ask that." Relena grinned. "I've been dying to tell it all night!"  
  
"This I have to hear," Duo said.  
  
"I have a feeling this is going to take a while," Rei said, eyeing the assembled. "Why don't we all go sit down?" Getting an affirmative response from everyone, Rei led the group into the living room where everyone made themselves comfortable.  
  
"Lita, you start," Relena said.  
  
"Me.? Well, I guess I should.."  
  
"It's alright," Heero whispered softly from his place next to her. "Your bad memories can't hurt you here. Everyone is here for you. I'm here for you." So saying, he slipped an arm around her waist.  
  
Lita smiled, curling up against his side. "Well, I guess I should start at the beginning.." 


	23. A Mother Cries as a Father is Born

Standard disclaimer still applies...I don't own these characters.  
  
I know, I know...I've been gone a very long time. Insert shamed look here. But I'd rather be able to put out good chapters slowly then bad chapters rapidly. Therefore, seeing as I work full time, my creativity is usually sapped at the end of the day...must be all the rude people and completely stupid management I interact with on a regular basis. Anyway, I want to profusely thank all of you who have the patience to wait for these chapters and continue to read and enjoy them. It's people like you who make writing fun! ^_^  
  
On a side note, Duo will later make some cracks along the lines of Heero being gay (you'll get it once you read it). These are not meant to offend anybody, just to be another example of how Duo's mouth gets him into trouble...especially when he speaks before he thinks.  
  
Enjoy!  
  
"After I got arrested, they took me down to the police station. They gave me a jumpsuit to change into and showed me to a cell. I guess I should have noticed it seemed kinda odd...I mean, I really expected more to happen; but I wasn't really thinking too clearly. Anyway, I spent a long time in there...hours all alone. Hours I used to think about things, prepare myself for the inevitable....Finally, a guard brought in a piece of paper and a pen, asking me to write any last words. He waited outside the cell and when I finished, I handed the pen and paper back to him. Then he opened the cell and motioned me out, demanding that I follow him. He led me down the corridor to a room with a door that had a small window." There was a pause in her narrative, as she saw the scene play out in her mind. Blinking away the images she wanted to forget, she continued.  
  
"The guard pushed me inside the room, where I was strapped down to something that looked like those examining tables in a doctor's office. Another guard, who had been in the room when I got there, brought over a syringe and was just about to inject me with whatever was inside when a girl's voice demanded him to stop."  
  
"Me," Relena interrupted proudly.  
  
"It was Relena, which freaked me out....I'd killed her, and here she was floating around." Lita laughed. "But the looks on the faces of those two guys was priceless. At first they seemed to think it was their imagination because they kept blinking and waving hands in front of their eyes. Then I guess they decided to ignore it because the one with the syringe turned back to me, only to have it plucked out of his hands by his 'imagination'. Relena threatened to inject him if he so much as moved too close to me, demanding that they let me go. I think then they realized that they were really seeing a ghost."  
  
"They told her they didn't have the authority to stay my execution. So she informed them that she was going to get that authority and if they did anything in the meantime, she was going to escort them to Hell herself. They readily promised her that nothing would happen in her absence and they retreated to some chairs on the far side of the room. Relena disappeared and then I just waited...and waited...for a really long time...."  
  
"It wasn't that long," Relena insisted.  
  
"Well it seemed like a long time to me," Lita said.  
  
"I'm sure it did, but really compared to the whole span of time it was nothing but a little itty-bitty micro cosmic second."  
  
"Whatever," Wufei said rudely.  
  
Relena stuck her tongue out at Wufei, crossing her arms across her chest.  
  
"Now you've done it," Duo said. "She's not going to tell us anything."  
  
"She better," Lita said. "I'm not going to sit here all day while she feuds with turkey boy."  
  
"You shouldn't have too." Rei glared at Wufei. "This is your fault...you apologize."  
  
"I'm not apologizing to a phantom menace."  
  
Relena was about to say something in response to Wufei's crack when Lita pushed herself up and stood over Wufei, glaring in a way that did not invite anything other then complete obedience. "You apologize now or you're going to get a shock so bad that all the hair gel ever produced will never keep your hair flat again."  
  
Wufei shrank back a little, croaking out an apology, then promptly clammed up so he did not get into anymore trouble.  
  
Lita sat back down, keeping that glare on her face.  
  
To ease the sudden tension in the room, Relena went about beginning her narrative. She told about finding Lita's letter crumpled in the trash and her first public appearance. She started getting animated when she described her encounter with Juuban's chief of police and her threat to haunt him through all eternity if he didn't release Lita. By the time she'd gotten to the part about pestering the Sanq Kingdom's head of government, she was gesturing wildly, giving a very through demonstration of her use of that not-so-little mallet of "Divine Influence". She looked quite pleased with herself as she told of her victory in securing Lita's release; well...that coupled with the fact that her audience seemed to appreciate her narrative, for the pilots found her cussing out a government official to be extremely hilarious.  
  
After having had her say, Relena smiled. "And that finishes it off. My work here is done. But remember...I'm always watching." With a wave, her apparition vanished, leaving a void where she'd been.  
  
"Well, that certainly was a story worth hearing," Duo said, grinning.  
  
"I must admit it is rather amusing to picture Relena hammering somebody over the head," Trowa said. "Considering how much against her personality such behavior is."  
  
"Against the old Relena's personality," Quatre clarified. "This new...'Relena'...seems to be a little...well...."  
  
"Non-existent?" Wufei supplied.  
  
"Not quite the word I had in mind...."  
  
"Sleep," Lita said, suddenly interjecting her own comment into the conversation.  
  
"Sleep? A person can't look sleep...sleepy yes, but not sleep. Besides, Relena didn't look tired to me." Duo rubbed his chin thoughtfully.  
  
"Sleep," she repeated. "Not Relena, me. The word that I had in mind...."  
  
"Oh," he said, laughing a little embarrassedly. "Yeah, I guess that would be on your mind...well, one of two things," Duo said, giving Heero a rather evil grin.  
  
Heero raised an eyebrow. "You are the only person on the face of this earth who would suggest that someone who has spent a good chunk of the last 24 hours wondering if they'll live or die would first and foremost be thinking about THAT."  
  
Quatre blushed a little. "Duo...I'm not sure this is quite appropriate morning conversation...."  
  
"What?" Duo said innocently. "It's a natural reaction to attraction. Babies gotta come from somewhere you know."  
  
"Oh, like you're an expert on babies Maxwell," Wufei said, rolling his eyes.  
  
"Hey, I never said that. But it's not like you know any more."  
  
"I'm sure I know more then you do."  
  
Duo snorted. "Right...and I'm the Easter Bunny."  
  
"So that's the explanation for your behavior...all those eaten candy eggs and the constant inhaling of fumes from the paint on those Easter eggs," Heero commented.  
  
"That's mean!" Duo's face showed a little pout. "How come you're only nice to Lita? Just because you're gonna marry her and all...."  
  
"Is there something wrong with being nice to her?"  
  
"Well, no...I guess not. But geez...we're your friends too. If we want you to be nice to us do we have to marry you too?"  
  
Heero gave Duo the darkest, most scowling type glare that he could muster.  
  
"EEP!" Duo cringed. "Bad choice of words on my part! Wasn't trying to question your uh...straightness."  
  
Heero scowled. "I know what you were trying to get at; you were making a bad attempt at a joke about what you had to do to get me to be friendly. But let's get a few things straight. First, I'm not gay. Secondly, even if I was, I would never marry any of you and especially not you Duo. Third, I...AM...NOT...GAY."  
  
"I think I got that the first time....But seriously, we all know you're straight. At least, we'd hope that any man who's going to be a father...."  
  
He never did finish the sentence. As soon as she heard the word father, Lita let out a strangled sort of noise, her, face losing all color. "W...why did you say that Duo?"  
  
"Yeah, why'd you have to go and open your mouth Maxwell? You big idiot!" Wufei yanked Duo's braid, hard.  
  
"You mean...you...you all...know...?" Lita looked slowly around the faces of the gathered group, her gaze landing on Heero last of all.  
  
He nodded.  
  
"You were never supposed to find out...." Her eyes began to water. Before anybody could do anything, she stood up and fled the room.  
  
"I hope you're happy Duo," Heero growled, following after his fiancé.  
  
"It was an accident...," Duo said, weakly. "I didn't mean too...."  
  
"I know," Quatre said softly. "Really, this whole mess is my fault. I should never had said anything."  
  
"No Quatre, it's my fault," Rei said. "If I hadn't gotten so worked up about things you would never have let it slip."  
  
"It's nobody's fault, and it's everybody's fault," Trowa said. "Rei, you had every reason to be worked up. From your point of view, I'm sure it did look as if we were doing nothing but giving up. Quatre, you too had every right to be worked up as well. How could you help but be as you were, being the only one who knew the full consequences of Lita's actions? However, if you want to point fingers, then we should all point fingers at each other. If we had not been so emotional, perhaps we would have noticed that Heero had come into the room and maybe we could have stopped Quatre before he revealed that knowledge he alone knew."  
  
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Duo said.  
  
"Something still concerns me though," Rei said. "What you said, Quatre, about hoping nothing changes...and her comment about how he wasn't supposed to have found out. She wasn't planning something was she...?"  
  
Quatre sighed. "Not abortion, no. But I think she was planning on adoption. How she thought she could hide her pregnancy from everyone, especially Heero, I don't know."  
  
"Adoption?" Rei looked stunned. "She would give her son away...and without ever telling Heero? Why?"  
  
"It's because of Heero she planned to do it," he answered.  
  
Meanwhile, outside in the courtyard of the shrine, Lita was sitting under a tree, staring at her hands through tear filled eyes.  
  
"Quatre didn't betray you, if that's what you're thinking," Heero said from his place beside her. "He never meant to tell any of us...it just slipped out when Rei had a little outburst about our...inadequacy...during this particular situation." Silence was his only answer. Now usually, that wouldn't bother Heero...but this time it did. Something was wrong with Lita, and he didn't like the fact that she wasn't telling. After a few minutes of non- responsiveness, he decided to press the issue. "So did you mean what you said in there...that I wasn't supposed to have ever known?"  
  
There was another small pause. "Yes," she said softly.  
  
"Why?"  
  
Lita fidgeted a little, not answering.  
  
"You didn't think I deserved to know I had a son?"  
  
"Oh no, that's not it!"  
  
"Then what?" Heero said, shifting so he was sitting in front of her. He reached out and grabbed hold of her shoulders. "Were you afraid to have our son see what monster his father is?"  
  
"You're not a monster Heero," Lita said, tears welling up in her green eyes. "I...I was just so confused! I didn't know what to do...all I wanted was to protect you...."  
  
He blinked. The anger that had begun to build dissolved with this confession. He was always protecting others, but he'd never thought that anyone would protect him, aside from the pilots that is. The last vestiges of his anger melted away when he realized that it was him that had helped to cause those tears. The hands that held her shoulders slipped around her, pulling her to him in a tight embrace. "I'm sorry Lita...."  
  
"It isn't your fault Heero," she said, her voice muffled by his shoulder. "I should have told you...but I was afraid too."  
  
"Yeah...I guess I'm not the best at handling shocking news," he said, a note of dry humor in his voice. "But I had no right to get mad at you...you've had it rough lately and it wasn't fair of me to be so...well, short."  
  
"But you're right too...I should have told you...I just didn't know how you'd take it," she said, pulling back to look him in the face. "We never talked about kids, let alone so soon. Us not even married yet, and having a child. And even if we were, it wouldn't change the fact that you'd still be going on missions. I didn't want you to have to worry about leaving me behind in this kind of position or even after the baby was born, because I know you would. I wanted you to focus on your missions, so I knew you'd come home...I didn't want to raise my son without a father. So I thought if I hid it from you, if somehow you were called away before I started showing to badly, I could put the child up for adoption and spare you the extra burdens of worry and providing for a third person."  
  
He smiled. "I already worry about you when I'm away...I think I've got enough worry room left for something as small as a baby. And maybe I wouldn't have taken it so well at first, because more then likely if we had talked about it, I would definitely not have voted for starting a family so soon. But this baby is a gift to the two of us, and I'm not about to return one of the few presents I've ever gotten."  
  
Lita smiled; the tears in her eyes of happiness this time.  
  
"But I'm curious...knowing you were pregnant, why did you turn yourself in yesterday?"  
  
"For you," she said, a little embarrassed.  
  
"Me?"  
  
"I just knew you would try something, and I just couldn't bear to see you take the punishment meant for me."  
  
"But...didn't you think about the baby?"  
  
"I did...but...well...." She frowned a little, having trouble putting her feelings into words. "I didn't have much time to think...and in that short span of time all I could think of was you. You're always so willing to throw everything away for your mission, I thought just this once I could throw everything away to save you. When I finally got to the cell and had time to think, I realized what I had done. I had sentenced our son to die...but I guess I tried to justify it by saying I had planned to put him up for adoption anyway so he wouldn't have been our son anymore. It made me feel guilty, but I knew I'd made the right choice. If I could give up my son, then I knew that hard as it might be, I could live without him...but I knew I couldn't have lived without you. You'd just began to see there was more to life then war and being a soldier and I knew I could never have taken that away from you."  
  
Heero had no words to say this time. He couldn't say anything. He thought he knew Lita, but he discovered that there was quite a bit more to the woman he loved then he'd ever guessed and it only served to make him love her more.  
  
"Heero?" Lita waved a hand in front of his face. "You there?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm here," he answered.  
  
"Good, cause I was kinda worried there. You zoned out."  
  
"I did. But I had a good reason."  
  
"Oh really?"  
  
"Well, I would say that thinking of you is a good reason."  
  
Lita blushed. "Not being much of the perfect soldier now are you?"  
  
"Any man can be a soldier, maybe not as good as me, but...we can't all be perfect now can we?" He laughed as Lita swatted at his shoulder. "But seriously, any man can kill and destroy things. But not just any man can be a father. And if I'm going to be one, then I want to be a good one."  
  
Lita smiled, her hand resting against his cheek. "I have a feeling you'll be the best." 


End file.
